Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Bid to ‘water down’ UN’S climate report
Coal and oil producers want to axe fossil fuel phase-out plea
SOME of the world’s most polluting countries tried to water down a landmark UN climate report, according to a massive leak of documents.
Major coal exporter Australia and oil-rich Saudi Arabia were among those wanting the report to downplay the need to switch away from fossil fuels.
An Australian government official rejected the conclusion that coal-fired power plants must be closed – even though ending coal use is an objective of next month’s COP26 summit.
Major beef producers Argentina and Brazil are said to have disputed claims that the world must cut its meat consumption to tackle climate change.
And Saudi Arabia wanted the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change to delete its conclusion that the focus “needs to be on rapidly shifting to zerocarbon sources and actively phasing out fossil fuels”.
The documents obtained by Greenpeace contain 32,000 submissions by governments, companies and other interested parties to the IPCC, the UN body compiling scientific evidence on how to tackle climate change.
Greenpeace International chief Jennifer Morgan said: “This is an insight into how a small group of coal, oil and meat producing countries continue to put the profits of a few polluting industries before science and our planet’s future.
“The key test for world leaders is whether or not they agree to rapidly phase out fossil fuels, as science warrants. History will not be kind to them if they fail.”
The IPCC said comments from governments are central to its scientific review process but that its authors have no obligation to incorporate them into the reports. It added: “Our processes are designed to guard against lobbying – from all quarters.”
It came after the Environment Agency issued over 100 flood warnings following heavy rain on Wednesday night and early yesterday as Storm Aurore moved in from France.