Fossil Fuel arguments blocking true progress toward saving the Planet

By Dana Malcolm

Staff Writer

November 21, 2022 – Cop 27 made history with a new Climate Justice Fund but it was overshadowed by large nations once again blocking decisive fossil fuel action.

The Loss and Damage Fund will “assist developing countries that are particularly vulnerable to the adverse effects of climate change.”

A commitment was made to set up a financial support structure for the most vulnerable by the next COP in 2023. To even set up the fund was a serious fight that negotiators only managed to success a day after the conference ended. It is being reported that furious words were exchanged between countries.

At the same time China, the world’s top polluter, along with Saudi Arabia and several other oil producing nations torpedoed a proposal from India that would have phased out the use of all fossil fuels.

The disappointing and dangerous vote came even after thousands died in floods and famines in their neighboring developing nations this year.

A third of Pakistan is under water after floods, several nations in Sub Saharan Africa are starving because of drought and famine, Jamaica and Cayman are losing their shoreline, sargassum is choking Barbados’ beaches, the Turks and Caicos is in a race against time to save its reefs, The Bahamas is still trying to recover from Hurricane Dorian and the list goes on.

The money to be shared between these dozens of developing nations ravaged by climate change, while helpful, will be a drop in the bucket against the reality of how climate change actually affects their economies,   infrastructure, education, healthcare, population health and quality of life.

1. Delta Merner, Lead Scientist at the Science Hub for Climate Litigation found that Hill+Knowlton, the PR firm that is responsible for getting out the message about COP27, the weight of the decisions to be made at the conference and the dire climate crises is the same PR firm that works with some of the world’s biggest polluters including “Chevron, ExxonMobil, Saudi Aramco and Shell—and a key international lobby group for the fossil fuel industry, the Oil and Gas Climate Initiative.”

Merner described it as “an unacceptable conflict of interest” recalling that the company founders have in the past created “seemingly independent” science to manipulate public policy.

Exhausted delegates from the United Kingdom claimed that behind closed doors some countries tried to even work on repealing the 1.5°C heating cap and other key climate agreements.

As these oil giants try to beat COP27 into submission and other large countries provide mostly lip service while pumping harmful gasses into the air the UN engineered meeting continues to do its best to hold the line on at getting countries to honor their obligations.