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MEDIA RELEASE
Friday 18 December 2009
Australia awarded ‘Fossil of the Day’ at climate change talks
Australian negotiators have been awarded the odious price of ‘Fossil of The Day’ for blocking
the action needed to reduce the risk of dangerous climate change at UN talks in Copenhagen.
Fossil of the Day is awarded each day by the Climate Action Network during the Copenhagen
climate change talks with all the ‘glitz and glamour’ of an Oscars ceremony to the worst
performing nation in the day’s negotiations.
Australia has scooped the prize on the basis of their bullying of Pacific Islands, in particular
Tuvalu, to settle for a target of carbon reduction that will not avoid catastrophic climate
change, and for Rudd’s lack of ambition as part of the umbrella group on long-term finance for
developing countries.
GetUp Acting National Director Oliver MacColl, said,
“GetUp doesn’t know what’s taken the selectors so long – Australia’s been working so hard for
the Fossil of the Day award. It’s difficult to believe a country that’s clearly in the pocket of the
fossil fuel industry has to wait until the final days of the talks to receive this award.
“Australian negotiators really out did themselves at Copenhagen, bullying the Pacific Islands to
settle for weak targets, to snatch the Fossil of the Day award. It’s a phenomenal effort that will
contribute to a phenomenal failure to secure a fair, binding and ambitious deal,” Mr MacColl
said.
“Pacific nations are calling for a treaty that limits global warming to 1.5 degrees, the maximum
they can survive. It's also what all the scientists are calling for too. Australia is outrageously
trying to strong-arm them into a treaty for a 2 degree rise - which would see them literally sunk
out of existence – proving that Rudd’s rhetoric on tackling climate change is nothing but empty
posturing.”
GetUp will be rallying their 335,000 members today to flood Rudd’s office with phone calls
pressing him to ditch the bullying tactics in favour of leadership, co-operation and bold
movement on the part of developed countries on this issue to solve the climate crisis.
For more information please call Oliver MacColl on 0401 317 237
About GetUp: GetUp.org.au <http://GetUp.org.au> is Australia’s largest independent political
organisation, with more than 335,000 members nationwide. It brings together like-minded
people who want to bring participation back into our democracy. www.getup.org.au
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