Fossil Day 8: A weak tea cover text from Egypt and Israel’s greenwashing of human rights violations
Today’s Fossil of the Day is awarded both to Egypt and Israel.
This morning, the Egyptian presidency issued a COP27 cover decision draft text which is a hodgepodge of different elements and a laundry list of messages lacking vision and structure. It’s one thing to rehash old statements, it’s quite another to backslide and add nothing new.
With such a long text, how did they miss including the call for an equitable phase out of all fossil fuels in it? This proposal has been called for by India, the EU, the US, Tuvalu, Vanuatu and AOSIS, New Zealand and Colombia. And yet, the Egyptian president failed to include it. Furthermore, their clumsy handling of the process has created delays and confusion; undermining collective commitment from countries to achieve a positive outcome at COP27.
After many years of climate negotiations, this is the first time Israel has its own pavilion, and while we welcome their interest in the COP and the climate crisis, we must also remind them that this is not a space to be used for greenwashing over their own human rights record. Israel has used its pavilion to boast about its own successful experiences in adapting to water scarcity challenges and adaptive agriculture.
Acting as an environmental champion means respecting the Palestinian people’s rights to existence. After all, there is no climate justice without human rights. With little to no control over their lands or natural resources, Palestinian people are increasingly vulnerable to the climate crisis.
Both Egypt and Israel are big players in the Middle East region, so it is vital that they address the climate crisis properly.
About CAN: The Climate Action Network (CAN) is a worldwide network of over 1100 Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) in more than 120 working to promote government and individual action to limit human-induced climate change to ecologically sustainable levels. www.climatenetwork.org
About the Fossils: 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 (www.unfccc.int), members of the Climate Action Network (CAN), vote for countries judged to have done their ‘best’ to block progress in the negotiations or in the implementation of the Paris Agreement.
About the Rays: CAN gives out the ‘Ray of The Day’ award to the countries who are a ray of hope for the negotiations at the UN climate change conference.
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Contact
Muhammed Lamin Saidykhan
Head of Building Power
Climate Action Network Internationalmsaidykhan@climatenetwork.org