Protesters disrupt U.S. panel at climate conference

KATOWICE, Poland — Indigenous and youth groups disrupted a U.S. government event at the U.N. climate talks Monday, criticizing the Trump administration’s policy of backing the extraction of fossil fuels, the burning of which increases global warming.

About 100 protesters chanted “keep it in the ground” — a reference to ending the extraction of coal, oil and natural gas — shortly after the start of the panel called “U.S. Innovative Technologies Spur Economic Dynamism” on the sidelines of the meeting in Katowice.

Wells Griffith, a Trump administration adviser speaking at this year’s panel, said after the interruption that the United States would continue extracting fossil fuels, including through hydraulic fracking. Griffith warned against “alarmism” over climate change.

The panel’s premise — that fossil fuels can be made “clean” through innovation — stands at odds with recommendations from scientists that countries should shift their energy generation to renewable sources or risk catastrophic levels of global warming.

Investors, too, have backed a shift away from fossil fuels. On Monday, more than 415 pension funds and insurance companies, with over $32 trillion in assets, called on governments to phase out coal-fired power plants and put a meaningful price on carbon to help tackle climate change.

Over the weekend, the Trump administration sided with Russia, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait in blocking endorsement of a key scientific report on keeping global warming below 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 Fahrenheit) — the most ambitious target in the 2015 Paris climate accord.

Washington has announced that it’s withdrawing from the Paris agreement, but has sent a small delegation to the summit in Poland.