Place your bets for the Copenhagen Fossil Of The Day

Posted by jamie — 8 December 2009 at 9:21pm - Comments

This video shows the first presentation of the Fossil of the Day award on Monday.

Sometimes, there is such a beautiful synchronisation of multiple ideas in a single word, I'm tempted to believe that it couldn't possibly have happened by chance. For instance, what pops into your head when you hear the word 'fossil'?

A. The preserved remains of long-dead organisms
B. A polluting fuel hewn from the ground
C. Someone who refuses to adapt and evolve even though everyone else has
D. All of the above

If you answered D, you're clearly on the same wavelength as the team handing out Fossil Of The Day awards here in Copenhagen. Handed out each evening, they go to the country which has done most to stall, frustrate or otherwise get in the way of a fair, ambitious and legally-binding agreement during the last 24 hours.

They're clearly having a lot of fun and when I went along this evening, there was a large crowd around the stand. Bringing in Merhilda the mermaid to retrieve the winners' names from the bottom of the sea (it's a Copenhagen joke, you have to be here) adds to the silliness, but obviously there's a very serious side to this.

On Monday, all industrialised countries romped away with the top gong for complete lack of ambition, closely followed by Austria, Finland and Sweden in second place (fiddling their forests), and Saudi Arabia and Canada in third. Full details on why those countries were chosen are in the press release.

Last night, there were some surprises. Ukraine won third place for refusing to tell anyone how it is using the money from selling emission credits, which it's required to do so. Second place went to the group of non-EU industrialised countries (aka the Umbrella group) for trying to get carbon capture and storage (CCS) projects eligible for clean development mechanism projects.

And in first place was... Ukraine! So awful are this country's emission reduction targets (which would actually see its emissions increase) that the judges felt obliged to honour it with two awards in one day. Boos from the large crowd gathered round the stand were long and loud. (Check the press release for full details.)

The awards are being given out daily throughout the conference and there are nearly 200 candidates to choose from. Place your bets and check the Fossil Of The Day blog for the latest results.

About Jamie

I'm a forests campaigner working mainly on Indonesia. My personal mumblings can be found @shrinkydinky.

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