First Fossil of the Day award of COP29 to be presented to G7
15 November 2024
PRESS RELEASE: For immediate use
First Fossil of the Day award of COP29 to be presented to G7
The first Fossil of the Day at COP29 in Baku has been collectively awarded to the countries of the Group of Seven: United States, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, and the United Kingdom. The G7 have received the award for spending the past 20 years dodging, skirting, and running away from their fiscal responsibility to pay up for their growing climate finance debt.
The G7 countries think they can hide behind each other but civil society sees right through their strategy. They have come to COP29 without putting forward any proposed figure for the Climate Finance Goal (NCQG). While these countries may not be a voting bloc in these halls, they have certainly been able to BLOCK progress here. This exclusive club, whose members are among the top 10 historical emitters, wants everyone else to have equal responsibility for fixing the climate crisis they majorly contributed to – where is the accountability for their actions?
Just the other day, the US was pushing forward an ‘onion approach’ to finance, sneaking in profits for its friends through private finance, within ‘multiple layers of investments’, when public finance is what’s needed – and available – for the climate finance goal.
Even with the increasing impacts of climate change coming to their shores doesn’t seem to make the G7 countries realise what is needed. Halfway through the critical decade of climate action (2020-30), the G7 is still standing in the way of delivering much-needed progress to meet the 1.5ºC goal and prevent us from joining the dinosaurs and becoming extinct. Meanwhile, Japan has to reduce their emissions by 81% by 2035 from 2013 levels to be in line with the Paris 1.5ºC goal.
-ENDS-
Notes to Editors
- The Fossil of the Day awards were first presented at the climate talks in 1999, in Bonn, initiated by the German NGO Forum. During United Nations climate change negotiations, members of the Climate Action Network (CAN), vote for countries judged to have done their ‘best’ to block progress in the negotiations.
- The Fossil award ceremony takes place at 18:00 Baku time in Action Zone 4 (near the entrance pavillions)
Contact: Dara Snead, Communications Officer: dsnead@climatenetwork.org/ +447917583349
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About CAN: The Climate Action Network (CAN) is a global network of over 2,000 Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) in more than 150 countries working to promote government and individual action to limit human-induced climate change to ecologically sustainable levels. www.climatenetwork.org