FOUR NATIONS SEEKING TO SPOIL CLIMATE TALKS

1 November 2001

Marrakech - Russia, Australia, Canada and Japan are again playing the role of climate villains at the international climate negotiations in Marrakech, Morocco and have been awarded the "Fossil of the Day" by the Climate Action Network, a coalition of more than 200 environmental non-government organisations represented at the talks.

The "Fossil of the Day" recognises the worst behaviour by nations or individuals in protecting the climate. The award was given to Australia, Russia, Canada and Japan at COP7, the latest round of negotiations of the Kyoto Protocol, an international agreement to prevent dangerous climate change by reducing global greenhouse gas emissions.

The four countries are breaking the agreement which was made in Bonn four months ago, by seeking to amend the rules of compliance which were meant to be finalised in June. The Bonn agreement was that the 7th Conference of the Parties, i.e., this meeting, would adopt the compliance rules. Under the suggested text these four nations are pushing, the Conference of the Parties would not have to adopt anything, but simply make recommendations to the next level of the process. "Basically this means that Russia, Australia, Canada and Japan are trying to get out of being penalised if they fail to stick to the rules of the Protocol," said Mr Bill Hare, Greenpeace director of climate policy.

"They want to bend the rules so that they could ratify the Protocol, but then come back later and say that they never agreed to penalties if they didn’t meet their commitments."

"For Australia, which has indicated it would not ratify the Protocol until the USA has joined, this is particularly galling behaviour."

"If we are going to prevent dangerous climate change, countries have to take action immediately to reduce their greenhouse gases," said Hare. "The Protocol’s target of cutting greenhouse emissions by 5% is only a start. We need to be making reductions of around 80% by the middle of the century if we are to prevent dangerous climate change."

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT:

For interviews contact Bill Hare in Marrakech on +212 6 1103 972 or +31 6 21296899, Steve Sawyer on +212 6 1103 898 or +31 6 53504715, or media officers Louise Fraser on +212 6 1103 885 or on +31 6 5395 5202 or Clemens Tolusso on +212 6 1103 902 or on +41 79 213 41 06 (French speaking).

Visit www.greenpeace.org/~climate/climatecountdown/ for more information on Greenpeace's climate campaign and on the negotiations in Marrakech.