Washed Up
Cop26:
a tremendous example of the capitalist hegemony
The main guests at the last international climate summit made the incredible demonstration that the fight against global warming has been stoled by the industrial and oil lobbies which, behind an "eco-friendly" and "greener" image, are in the process of locking up all possibilities to save our planet from catastrophe.
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Artoise Bastelica
In a report published last January 10th, the Global Monitoring for Environment and Security, Copernicus, ranked the year 2021 in the top 5 warmest years ever recorded. At the same time, the last hit movie of Adam McKay, Don’t Look Up, puts forward the idea that capitalism will always put profits before any other consideration, including climate considerations. An alarming reality that the last climate summit, the COP26, which took place in Glasgow in November 2021 illustrates perfectly. In fact, the climate association Global Witness noted the almost surreal presence of 503 delegates from the fossil fuel lobby, declaring they were “larger than the combined total of the delegations from the country’s worst affected by climate change”
An event sponsored by some of the most polluting companies
“Bla bla bla”, these are the words used in a tweet by young Swedish activist Greta Thunberg from the COP26 in which she denounced thirty years of inefficient policies for climate. For associations and activists that made the trip to Glasgow, the observation is clear: “COP26 [has been] sold as the place to raise ambition, but it’s crawling with fossil fuel lobbyists whose only ambition is to stay in business”, declared Pascoe Sabido, researcher, and campaigner for Corporate Europe Observatory in a released published by Global Witness. Indeed, the presence of lobbies is anything but astonishing because the event itself has been sponsored by super-polluters like the international food-industry Unilever, registered as one of the most polluting companies on earth according to the NGO Break Free From Plastic in its last report.
According to Break Free From Plastic's survey, Unilever compagny has been ranked at the thirth place of the most polluting companies in 2020. Its pieces of plastic waste have been recordered in 37 contries around the world.
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Source : https://www.statista.com/chart/23720/worst-polluting-companies/
To justify their presence in the face of activists' invectives, sponsors and guests have gone to great lengths to enhance their image in the field of ecological transition. On its side, Sainsbury’s company, also guest of the summit, committed itself in a press release to reach “by the end of the year 100% of renewable electricity” in its supermarkets and “to significantly reducing its reliance on fossil fuels” over the next two years. An announcement which did not fail to make activists react by accusing them of hypocrisy and greenwashing. The French activist media Reporterre wrote about Sainsbury’s on an article published Novembre 6th, 2021: “You only have to visit any of its supermarkets in the UK to realize that every food item has its own plastic packaging. [...] Its shelves are fuller with ready meals and vinegar chips than local vegetables.”
Sainsbury's ompany relies on communication during the COP26 to give itself a greener image.
Money and Lobbying "have too much influence on governments"
To understand why these companies have such a stranglehold on climate commitments, it is necessary to realize, according to American biologist and activist Charlie Gardner, that money and lobbying, particularly in the fossil fuel industry, "have too much influence on governments" in charge of climate's summits organizations, like COP26. In an interview with the scientific journal Nature, the biologist explained "there are a lot of very powerful vested interests that do not want us to rapidly decarbonize, as that will limit their ability to make profit.”
That is, financial investment takes precedence over the ecological emergency because no binding commitments are required by the intergovernmental organizations that oversee the agreements and issue precise guidelines established on serious scientists’ reports like IPCC’s ones. Therefore, despite the ratification of the Paris agreements at Cop25, in which the signatory countries committed to "limit the increase in global temperature to less than 2 degrees Celsius", none of those who did not keep this commitment have been sanctioned.
Many signatory contries of Paris agreements have not even started to reduce their CO2 emissions like Australia, Poland, South Korea or Kazakstan.
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Source : https://www.instagram.com/datapolitics_fr/
[Translated document]
Concrete efforts made by signatories contries compared to the commitment targeted by Paris agreements. To respect the agreements equivalents of CO2 should be at 25 billion tons in 2030. Initiatives of the COP26 expected around 45 billion of tons of CO2, a significantly higher number.
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Source : https://www.instagram.com/datapolitics_fr/
[Translated document]
Interviewed by the specializing French-speaking media l'Info Durable, Lucie Pinson, founder of the NGO Reclaim Finance, explained the obstacles to the financing of the ecological transition are the result of "a regulatory framework [that] is not sufficiently restrictive" regarding Socially Responsible Investing (SRI) and that does not provide "guarantees to clients on minimum requirements in terms of the environment, society or governance".
Until then, European government authorities have continued to support companies that "have a model that is radically opposed to the energy transition [and that] do not want to make it", according to the activist.
She is also very critical of TotalEnergies' policy, which she considers to be at the heart of the illusion around SRI. Lucie Pinson detailed: "the vote on the resolution on executive remuneration, linked to a percentage of achievement of climate objectives, is based on an amount of 10%"; a commitment that is not sufficient in the eyes of the activist and that misleads the client "because it suggests to the saver that he is investing in products that are good for the environment or social rights".
The company, which did not fail to praise its technological progress and its future "climate objectives" in a document entitled Energy Panorama for the international summit, continues to invest in fossil fuels as before because no policy prevents it.
The presence of the oil and food giants at COP26 is therefore the result of a shareholder proximity between these companies and the governments that claim to defend "responsible" agreements for the climate.
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[Full interview conducted by L'Info Durable (in French).]
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During the summit, main part of the delegates has practically renounced the commitments of Paris agreements to hide behind promises of carbon neutrality for 2050, a "net zero" policy with massive investments without any targets or specific measures. "they turned this summit into "a PR - Public elation - event where governments of the Global North countries are still refusing to take any drastic climate action” declared Greta Thunberg.
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In this context, we can understand why Qatar, ranked the most polluting country in the world, has been able to present its "eco-responsible" soccer stadiums for the 2022 World Cup in a huge stand amidst giant screens and green soccer shirts. As a good communicator Orjan Lundberg, "sustainability expert" at the company responsible for overseeing the construction and infrastructure for the 2022 World Cup, promoted the benefits of the World Cup by congratulating Qatar. without embarrassment the expert declared to the press Qatar "developed renewable energy solutions wherever possible" and " would offset any greenhouse gas emissions that [it will be possible] to avoid". However, Reporterre noted "Qatar has never specified how it would do this".
the summit turned as "a PR EVENT"
Qatar has been ranked at the first place of the most polluting contries on earth with a total of 37,02 ton per capita of carbon dioxide emissions in 2020. The world average is estimated at 4,49 ton per capita for the same year
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Source : Ville Seppälä based on Global Carbon Project data
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​Finally, Cop26 or "Greenwashing Cop" for some will have proved one thing: the fight for the climate is probably not taken seriously by the main leaders. The legitimacy of the commitments lies more in the promises and ambitions than in the concrete actions. It remains to be seen whether the consequences of global warming, still invisible to some, and the alarming predictions of scientists, will end up really worrying those who have the power to change things or whether they will remain in denial until the comet hits us and leaves us no chance.
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