Archived press release

Bonn climate talks end with no progress made

14 August 2009

Following the end of the latest round of UN climate change talks in Bonn, which finished today, Mike Childs, Head of Climate Change at Friends of the Earth said:

"Rich countries are once again pushing the con of carbon offsetting at UN climate change talks - which means avoiding real action through dodgy accounting - and putting pitifully inadequate targets on the table.

"Not only does this do nothing to protect people from the threat of runaway climate change - it means the UK will miss out on the new green jobs and industries that would be created by moving to a safe, clean, low carbon future.

"We are pleased to see some EU countries calling for public money to be earmarked for developing countries to support them to grow in a green way and tackle the effects of global warming they are already facing.

"But it's disappointing that the UK is still failing to put any public money on the table to help poorer countries avoid the worst effects of a climate catastrophe."

Friends of the Earth believes no progress has been made on progressing substantive issues following 'informal' talks this week in Bonn, Germany. Instead rich countries have again failed to provide necessary commitments on carbon cuts that are anywhere close to what scientists say is necessary, and they have failed to address how sufficient flows of finance can go to developing countries to enable them to avoid a dirty, carbon-intensive path of development.Rather than making progress on these issues rich countries have concentrated efforts on pushing carbon offsetting to remove the need for rich countries to decarbonise quickly.

Friends of the Earth exposed offsetting as a scam in a recent report, 'A Dangerous Distraction', published in June this year.

Friends of the Earth's Demand Climate Change campaign is calling on rich countries to cut their emissions by 40 per cent by 2020 at home, not through offsetting, as well as provide new finance for developing countries to grow cleanly.

The green campaign group is urging people to call on world leaders for a strong and fair deal at UN climate talks in Copenhagen later this year by signing their international petition at www.demandclimatechange.org.

Notes to Editors:
1. If you would like to talk to a Friends of the Earth campaigner about the talks in more detail, please contact the Friends of the Earth press office on 020 7566 1649.
2. For further information about Friends of the Earth's report 'A Dangerous
Distraction', visit: http://www.foe.co.uk/campaigns/climate/news/dangerous_distraction_20319.html

If you're a journalist looking for press information please contact the Friends of the Earth media team on 020 7566 1649.

Published by Friends of the Earth Trust