We don’t need you, says French minister to activist – 06/22/2023 – Environment

“Make the polluters pay”, says a banner signed by Greenpeace and quickly extended by an activist in front of the stage of the Summit of the New Financial Compact, before an audience of heads of state and government, directors of banks and multilateral institutions .

The act lasted a few seconds, during the opening of the event on the morning of this Thursday (22). “We don’t need you to know that polluters must pay, we’ve already taxed you,” French Economy and Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said into the microphone, as the activist was pulled out of the event by a security guard. See the moment in the video below.

Le Maire’s reaction comes on the heels of an environmental crisis with the French government, which dissolved the ecology movement Soulèvements de la Terre (in English, Revolts of the Earth) after accusing it of violent acts.

Within the bloc, the European Union taxes fossil fuels according to the amount of carbon emitted. The bloc also approved, at the end of April, a carbon tax on imports, which should come into effect from 2026.

The creation of taxes —for example, on financial transactions and also on the carbon footprint of maritime transport—is among France’s proposals to increase climate finance revenue for developing countries.

However, environmental NGOs have criticized the maintenance of subsidies given by governments around the world to the oil and gas sector, which contributes the most to greenhouse gas emissions, causing the climate crisis. The European Union has increased investments in gas and coal to get rid of dependence on Russian gas, on the occasion of the Ukraine War.

The end of investments in fossil energy is one of the taboos in the climate negotiations, which will be presided over at the Climate COP28, in November, by Sultan al-Jaber, a member of the UAE government who is also responsible for the largest oil company in that country, Adnoc . President Lula should meet with Jaber this afternoon in Paris.

The Arab leader’s apparent conflict of interests has increased the international community’s distrust of the countries’ ability to implement the Paris Agreement on climate change, whose objective is to retain global warming between 1.5°C and 2°C.

“There is no conflict of interest, because the decisions come from the countries, not from the president of COP28,” said the president of COP27 and the Egyptian minister of Foreign Affairs, Sameh Shoukry.

Questioned about the relevance of the position he held in the COP27 negotiation, which led to the creation of the fund for climate damage and losses, Shoukry limited himself to saying that he has complete confidence in Jaber’s handling of the COP28.

The resumption of trust between the blocks of developed countries and those in development is one of the objectives that a new financial pact seeks to achieve. At the opening of the event, a speech by economist Amar Bhattacharya sought to guarantee compliance with the donation of US$ 100 billion for the climate —promised in 2009—in 2023, as Folha said.

“Significant progress in mobilizing climate resources suggests a high chance of delivery in 2023,” he said.

According to the top echelon of the French government, the amount has already been reached, but the content of the announcement was softened so that donor countries can share the spotlight on the outcome of the Climate COP28.

During the summit, countries are also expected to announce the fulfillment of another US$ 100 billion, destined to the Special Drawing Rights of the IMF (International Monetary Fund).

“European countries receive 13 times more resources than African countries; these rules [do sistema financeiro] are profoundly immoral,” said UN Secretary-General António Guterres at the opening of the summit.

“The childhood system failed with the developing countries. Its architecture was created after the Second World War and reflects the political and economic adaptation of the power dynamics of that period”, punctuated Guterres. “Today this structure is absolutely dysfunctional and unfair for a multipolar world with rising tensions.”

French President Emmanuel Macron also said at the opening of the summit that “a country should never have to choose between reducing poverty and protecting the planet”. “We need to face both challenges at once,” he added.

Convened by France, the meeting brings together more than one hundred heads of state in Paris until this Friday (23), in addition to multilateral financial institutions, such as the World Bank and the IMF (International Monetary Fund), regional development banks, investment funds, companies and NGOs.

The inspiration for the meeting came from the Bridgetown initiative, led by Mia Mottley, Prime Minister of Barbados. The Caribbean island is among the countries most vulnerable to the climate crisis and is currently experiencing hurricane season.

“We are not asking for the private sector to go bankrupt, but for it to share the burden with us, so that we can share the public goods, the common benefits. We have created a world in the last century where the power of a few companies is greater than entire countries “, said Mottley at the opening of the event.

“You’ll see some announcements of commitments here, like on Special Drawing Rights. They’re good announcements but they’re not enough, we need scale and pace,” Mottley told the press after his speech.

The summit will close on Friday morning. The French government hopes to keep the agenda on the agenda of upcoming meetings of global leaders throughout this year, such as the G20, the UN General Assembly and the Climate COP28.

_{The reporter traveled at the invitation of the French Embassy in Brazil.}

_{The Planeta em Transe project is supported by the Open Society Foundations.}