WEBVTT - Loss and Damage at COP 27 0:00:21.960 --> 0:00:25.080 The idea of loss and damages has been a real 0:00:25.440 --> 0:00:29.200 focal point of the twenty seventh Conference of the Parties, 0:00:29.440 --> 0:00:34.440 the annual UN Climate negotiations happening in Egypt last year 0:00:34.440 --> 0:00:37.680 in Glasgow. Global North countries fought to keep the topic 0:00:37.960 --> 0:00:41.879 off the agenda when it was made. This year's host country, Egypt, 0:00:41.960 --> 0:00:44.960 vowed to put it on the agenda early and keep 0:00:45.000 --> 0:00:49.600 it there, and they've kept that promise. But I've been 0:00:49.680 --> 0:00:53.280 seeing a lot of big gaps in the media coverage 0:00:53.320 --> 0:00:56.880 on this issue. Global South countries are often treated like 0:00:57.120 --> 0:01:01.040 a monolith, and the discussion around how to handle countries 0:01:01.040 --> 0:01:03.360 that are both on the front lines of the climate 0:01:03.400 --> 0:01:08.520 crisis and a major target for oil production is almost 0:01:08.640 --> 0:01:12.279 non existent. It's something I've been thinking about a lot 0:01:12.360 --> 0:01:15.800 because we've been reporting a new season for the past 0:01:15.880 --> 0:01:20.280 two years on Guyana and that country's emergence as an 0:01:20.280 --> 0:01:24.080 oil producing country, but also because I've spent so much 0:01:24.120 --> 0:01:26.920 time looking at the history of climate policy and how 0:01:27.000 --> 0:01:31.759 certain narratives have been shaped. The remarkable news out of 0:01:31.800 --> 0:01:36.200 this year's cop is that negotiators, including those from the US, 0:01:36.760 --> 0:01:40.360 which has historically been a big blocker to loss in damage, 0:01:40.520 --> 0:01:46.040 agreed to officially establish a lost in Damage fund, but 0:01:46.080 --> 0:01:48.960 there are still a lot of lingering questions around how 0:01:49.000 --> 0:01:51.920 the global North and the global South can move forward 0:01:52.000 --> 0:01:57.120 on addressing climate together. There's the failure of negotiators to 0:01:57.200 --> 0:02:00.360 agree to include any language in the final agreement around 0:02:00.440 --> 0:02:05.240 phasing fossil fuels out, of course, but there are a 0:02:05.280 --> 0:02:07.960 bunch of other conversations that need to happen to you, 0:02:08.280 --> 0:02:11.280 and those are all mostly informed by a history that 0:02:11.360 --> 0:02:17.160 seems to be widely unknown or just ignored. Welcome back 0:02:17.200 --> 0:02:20.920 to Drilled. I'm Amy Westervelt. In this episode, we're going 0:02:20.960 --> 0:02:23.720 to get into that history and unpack some of the 0:02:23.880 --> 0:02:27.880 messier details around cop and loss and damage that's coming 0:02:27.960 --> 0:02:42.800 up after this quick break. 0:02:54.200 --> 0:02:57.000 We have to ask ourselves, can we ever attain the 0:02:57.080 --> 0:03:00.600 ultimate objective of the convention, which is to prevent dangerous 0:03:00.600 --> 0:03:06.040 anthropogenic interference with a climate system. By failing to meet 0:03:06.040 --> 0:03:09.359 the objective of the convention, we may have rapified our 0:03:09.400 --> 0:03:12.040 own doom. And if we have failed to meet the 0:03:12.040 --> 0:03:15.520 objective of the convention, we have to confront the issue 0:03:15.560 --> 0:03:16.639 of loss and damage. 0:03:17.760 --> 0:03:21.560 That's Yeb Sano, the Philippines chief negotiator in the United 0:03:21.639 --> 0:03:25.840 Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, or UNF Triple C. 0:03:26.840 --> 0:03:30.040 UNF Triple C is the basis for the annual Conference 0:03:30.160 --> 0:03:33.600 of the Parties. Those parties are the countries that have 0:03:33.760 --> 0:03:38.640 signed on to the Framework Convention on Climate Change at SCHOOL. Initially, 0:03:38.640 --> 0:03:40.520 it was to bring the countries of the world together 0:03:40.640 --> 0:03:45.120 to stop catastrophic climate change. During the twenty thirteen COP 0:03:45.280 --> 0:03:49.680 in Warsaw, Sano's country was being devastated by super typhoon 0:03:49.760 --> 0:03:53.080 High End, prompting Sauna to make the argument that the 0:03:53.160 --> 0:03:57.200 UNF Triple C had failed to accomplish its original goal 0:03:57.720 --> 0:03:59.920 and must now reassess. 0:04:00.920 --> 0:04:05.840 Loss and damage is a reality today across the world 0:04:06.080 --> 0:04:11.360 and developed country emissions reduction targets are dangerously low and 0:04:11.440 --> 0:04:15.000 must be raised immediately. But even if these were in 0:04:15.040 --> 0:04:18.239 line with the demand of reducing forty to fifty percent 0:04:18.279 --> 0:04:20.800 below nineteen nine to levels, we will still have luck 0:04:20.960 --> 0:04:23.960 in climate change, and we still would need to address 0:04:23.960 --> 0:04:25.320 the issue of loss and damage. 0:04:26.920 --> 0:04:29.960 After giving that speech, Sano went on a hunger strike, 0:04:30.160 --> 0:04:32.880 saying he would not end it until global North countries 0:04:32.960 --> 0:04:37.239 committed to funding loss and damage. And here's fact number 0:04:37.240 --> 0:04:41.240 one that I haven't seen in any news reports on COP. 0:04:42.279 --> 0:04:47.280 Those countries. At the twenty thirteen COP they agreed wealthy countries, 0:04:47.320 --> 0:04:51.720 including the United States, agreed that by twenty twenty they 0:04:51.760 --> 0:04:54.599 would be putting one hundred billion dollars a year into 0:04:54.640 --> 0:04:58.400 a loss in Damages fund, But so far only about 0:04:58.520 --> 0:05:01.479 twenty one billion dollars has ever been put in it, 0:05:02.320 --> 0:05:05.960 and most of what was supposed to be effectively grant 0:05:06.000 --> 0:05:10.120 money to global seuth countries in need of adaptation funding 0:05:10.640 --> 0:05:15.800 was turned into loans. More debt is not something the 0:05:15.880 --> 0:05:20.880 majority of global sealth countries need. Last year, Barbados Prime 0:05:20.920 --> 0:05:25.200 Minister Mia Motley made history when she convinced the International 0:05:25.240 --> 0:05:29.200 Monetary Fund to help her hit pause on Barbados's debt 0:05:29.200 --> 0:05:32.600 payments so that they could devote some of their GDP 0:05:32.920 --> 0:05:37.839 to climate adaptation instead and hopefully get ahead of some 0:05:37.920 --> 0:05:41.799 of the climate impacts that they know are heading their way. 0:05:42.320 --> 0:05:45.240 This year, Motley is at COP with a proposal that 0:05:45.279 --> 0:05:49.000 would help all Global South countries do the same. It's 0:05:49.040 --> 0:05:54.960 called the Bridgetown Agenda. Here's Motley introducing it at COP. 0:05:57.200 --> 0:06:02.640 Looks still too much like it did when it was 0:06:03.400 --> 0:06:11.280 part of an imperialistic empire. The Global North borrows between 0:06:12.160 --> 0:06:16.000 interest rates of between one to four percent, the global 0:06:16.080 --> 0:06:20.680 south of fourteen percent, and then we wonder why they 0:06:20.839 --> 0:06:27.480 just energy partnerships are not working. Similarly, we ask ourselves, 0:06:28.040 --> 0:06:30.800 if countries that want to finance their way to NEET 0:06:30.920 --> 0:06:33.680 zero and want to do the right thing can't get 0:06:33.680 --> 0:06:38.920 the critical supplies, will they not have to rely again 0:06:39.320 --> 0:06:43.479 on natural gases that clean bridge This is the ball reality, 0:06:44.440 --> 0:06:47.680 and we have come here to ask us to open 0:06:47.720 --> 0:06:50.000 our minds to different possibilities. 0:06:51.040 --> 0:06:53.560 Motley laid out the specifics of her plan in that 0:06:53.600 --> 0:06:57.560 speech too, the establishment of a climate mitigation trust that 0:06:57.720 --> 0:07:02.800 unlocks five trillion dollars of private sector savings, provided that 0:07:02.839 --> 0:07:05.800 the IMF will allow the use of its five hundred 0:07:05.920 --> 0:07:10.160 billion dollars special Drawing Rights reserve. That would require not 0:07:10.320 --> 0:07:13.840 just a decision by the IMF but also its member states, 0:07:14.040 --> 0:07:17.840 particularly the United States. As Motley made clear. 0:07:18.320 --> 0:07:21.560 We believe that we have a plan. We believe that 0:07:21.640 --> 0:07:25.360 there can be the establishment of a climate mitigation trust 0:07:25.680 --> 0:07:30.560 that unlocks five trillion dollars of private sector savings if 0:07:30.560 --> 0:07:34.880 we can summon the will to use the SDRs five 0:07:34.960 --> 0:07:39.800 hundred billion of SDRs special drawing rights in a way 0:07:39.840 --> 0:07:45.600 that unlocks the private sector capital We believe that that 0:07:45.680 --> 0:07:53.080 requires a change in the attitude of Congress, because the 0:07:53.120 --> 0:07:58.080 agreement that establishes the International Monetary Fund requires eighty five 0:07:58.160 --> 0:08:01.800 percent to change that agreement, and if the United States 0:08:01.840 --> 0:08:05.760 government has seventeen percent of the quarter, then it can't 0:08:05.800 --> 0:08:08.920 be done, mister Gore without your cognis. 0:08:09.600 --> 0:08:11.920 She nodded to al Gore there because he spoke just 0:08:12.000 --> 0:08:14.760 before her about the need to open up financing for 0:08:14.800 --> 0:08:18.840 global self countries looking to adapt. But the bridget agenda 0:08:19.000 --> 0:08:22.000 isn't just about debt, restructuring and the IMF. 0:08:22.760 --> 0:08:26.440 We believe that it is critical that we address the 0:08:26.480 --> 0:08:31.120 issue of loss and damage. The talk must come to 0:08:31.160 --> 0:08:35.360 an end, and I'd like to salute Denmark in Belgium 0:08:35.520 --> 0:08:38.680 and Scotland for their own modest ways of trying to 0:08:38.720 --> 0:08:42.680 accept the precepts and principles of loss and damage as 0:08:43.720 --> 0:08:49.319 critical and as morally just. But for loss and damage 0:08:49.360 --> 0:08:53.439 to work, we believe that it can't only be an 0:08:53.440 --> 0:08:57.120 issue of asking state parties to do the right things, 0:08:57.240 --> 0:08:59.280 although they must. 0:08:59.559 --> 0:09:02.760 Mat We also made a convincing argument for drawing fossil 0:09:02.760 --> 0:09:06.360 fuel companies into the web of accountability at cop It 0:09:06.440 --> 0:09:10.080 was a particularly interesting proposal given that once again the 0:09:10.200 --> 0:09:14.679 industry has more delegates at COP than any one country. 0:09:15.600 --> 0:09:18.800 But we believe that the non state actors and the stakeholders, 0:09:19.080 --> 0:09:22.800 the oil and gas companies and those who facilitate them, 0:09:23.240 --> 0:09:26.600 need to be brought into a special convocation between now 0:09:26.640 --> 0:09:31.960 and COP twenty eight. How do companies make two hundred 0:09:32.040 --> 0:09:36.920 billion dollars in profits in the last three months and 0:09:36.960 --> 0:09:41.880 not expect to contribute at least ten cents in every 0:09:42.000 --> 0:09:46.120 dollar of profit to a loss of damage fund. This 0:09:46.200 --> 0:09:51.120 is what our people expect, and I ask us, as 0:09:51.160 --> 0:09:53.640 we reflect on what a loss and damage fund can 0:09:53.679 --> 0:09:57.360 look like and who should access it, that we convene 0:09:57.400 --> 0:10:01.360 a special convocation that doesn't only involve of state parties, 0:10:01.720 --> 0:10:04.760 but non state actors such as the same companies. 0:10:06.080 --> 0:10:11.280 Motley has indicated that the G seven countries Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, 0:10:11.800 --> 0:10:16.080 the United Kingdom, and the United States seem generally supportive 0:10:16.160 --> 0:10:19.560 of her plan. None of them has officially signed on yet, 0:10:20.200 --> 0:10:24.080 but it would be a really big deal if the 0:10:24.120 --> 0:10:28.120 final COP agreement contains some version of the Bridgetown Agenda, 0:10:28.280 --> 0:10:31.960 particularly the requirement that fossil fuel companies contribute to loss 0:10:31.960 --> 0:10:35.840 and damages US Climate star John Carey has been talking 0:10:35.840 --> 0:10:38.679 about the need for the private sector to fund loss 0:10:38.679 --> 0:10:41.280 and damages, and his idea to make that happen is 0:10:41.320 --> 0:10:43.880 a carbon market. But if you're going to ask fossil 0:10:43.880 --> 0:10:46.480 fueld companies to pay for the carbon they're emitting today, 0:10:46.920 --> 0:10:50.720 what about their historic contributions to climate change? Where's the 0:10:50.880 --> 0:10:55.400 private sector accountability on that front. Motley's proposal at least 0:10:55.600 --> 0:10:59.960 names that particular elephant, which brings me to the broader 0:11:00.200 --> 0:11:04.760 history of COP and the fossil fuel industry. As I've 0:11:04.800 --> 0:11:07.640 talked about in previous episodes, the industry was at the 0:11:07.679 --> 0:11:12.240 table from Jump. They were there influencing government officials when 0:11:12.320 --> 0:11:16.640 the UN Framework Conventional Climate Change was drafted. Way back 0:11:16.760 --> 0:11:20.079 in nineteen ninety two at the Real Earth Summit, the 0:11:20.160 --> 0:11:22.079 guy we've talked about a lot on this show, E. 0:11:22.200 --> 0:11:26.400 Bruce Harrison, brought together the various industries and companies that 0:11:26.520 --> 0:11:30.560 might be impacted by emissions regulations into a group called 0:11:30.559 --> 0:11:34.960 the Global Climate Coalition. He also started working internationally in 0:11:35.040 --> 0:11:37.800 advance of the Real Earth Summit because he saw this 0:11:37.920 --> 0:11:42.000 whole cop situation coming a mile away. That's because back 0:11:42.040 --> 0:11:45.240 in nineteen seventy two, Harrison had seen the impact of 0:11:45.280 --> 0:11:49.760 the first UN environmental summit, the United Nations Conference on 0:11:49.840 --> 0:11:56.200 the Human Environment, which earthed the Stockholm Declaration. This groundbreaking 0:11:56.240 --> 0:12:01.560 document made environmental issues global that emphasize is conservation, the 0:12:01.800 --> 0:12:07.280 redistribution of resources, and state responsibility for environmental damage both 0:12:07.320 --> 0:12:12.000 within and beyond their borders. It also had zero concern 0:12:12.240 --> 0:12:15.679 for business, to the extent that industry was included at 0:12:15.720 --> 0:12:20.360 all in the UNCCH negotiations, it was as a culprit 0:12:20.600 --> 0:12:25.320 and a threat, not a partner. The first principle put 0:12:25.360 --> 0:12:30.280 forth in Stockholm Declaration reads quote man has the fundamental 0:12:30.400 --> 0:12:34.679 right to freedom, equality and adequate conditions of life in 0:12:34.760 --> 0:12:38.080 an environment of equality that permits a life of dignity 0:12:38.160 --> 0:12:42.200 and well being. And he bears a solemn responsibility to 0:12:42.280 --> 0:12:46.120 protect and improve the environment for president and future generations. 0:12:47.440 --> 0:12:52.160 Later on, the Declaration reaffirms nation's sovereign right to extract 0:12:52.200 --> 0:12:57.560 their own resources, but notably balances that right with the 0:12:57.600 --> 0:13:01.800 mandate that countries must quote ensure that activities within their 0:13:01.880 --> 0:13:05.760 jurisdiction or control do not cause damage to the environment 0:13:05.840 --> 0:13:09.400 of other states or of areas beyond the limits of 0:13:09.520 --> 0:13:14.320 national jurisdiction. The Stockholm Declaration led to the creation of 0:13:14.440 --> 0:13:19.720 new international laws, norms, and organizations focused on environmental protection, 0:13:20.040 --> 0:13:24.320 including the United Nations Environmental Program, which was formed as 0:13:24.360 --> 0:13:28.480 a permanent agency to act as the environmental conscience of 0:13:28.559 --> 0:13:32.960 the UN. The Stockholm Declaration, combined with the creation of 0:13:33.000 --> 0:13:35.600 the EPA and the passage of the Clean Air and 0:13:35.679 --> 0:13:39.680 Clean Water Acts in the US, was a massive pr 0:13:39.920 --> 0:13:44.559 crisis for American industry and a huge opportunity for a 0:13:44.679 --> 0:13:50.000 Bruce Harrison. Throughout the eighties, Harrison scored himself invitations and 0:13:50.200 --> 0:13:54.440 speaking engagements at various UNIP events, where he pushed the 0:13:54.480 --> 0:13:57.880 idea that the more companies participated in the creation of 0:13:57.960 --> 0:14:02.520 environmental policies, the more effective those policies would be. To 0:14:02.559 --> 0:14:05.240 be clear, Harrison was not the only person getting that 0:14:05.320 --> 0:14:09.079 idea in the eighties, nor was his message a hard sell. 0:14:09.640 --> 0:14:13.320 Plenty of people were happy to embrace a business friendly 0:14:13.360 --> 0:14:18.760 approach that required no economic trade offs, but given his 0:14:18.840 --> 0:14:23.840 domestic and international influence, Harrison was a driving force. In 0:14:23.880 --> 0:14:27.560 the late nineteen eighties, he created two organizations, the Global 0:14:27.560 --> 0:14:32.640 Climate Coalition, which brought together manufacturers, oil companies, automotive, rail 0:14:32.880 --> 0:14:35.920 and various other industries into a group that could shape 0:14:35.920 --> 0:14:41.040 the global response to climate change, and envirocom an international 0:14:41.080 --> 0:14:44.800 network of PR firms that would all use the same 0:14:44.840 --> 0:14:48.880 corporate messaging on environmental issues. Their state admission was to 0:14:49.040 --> 0:14:53.000 monitor emerging environmental policy all over the world for their 0:14:53.040 --> 0:15:00.280 clients and to influence that policy through strategic lobbying. Was 0:15:00.360 --> 0:15:04.800 to fully integrate industry into the international approach to environmental issues, 0:15:05.280 --> 0:15:09.320 and the strategy was enormously successful. At the nineteen ninety 0:15:09.320 --> 0:15:12.680 two Rio Summit. There was none of the urgency or 0:15:12.720 --> 0:15:17.760 directness of the Stockholm Declaration. Gone was the emphasis on 0:15:17.880 --> 0:15:22.000 government regulation. It was replaced by a sort of big 0:15:22.120 --> 0:15:28.680 tent approach that included business interests and prioritized compromise. Agenda 0:15:28.760 --> 0:15:31.600 twenty one, one of the defining documents out of that 0:15:31.720 --> 0:15:35.000 nineteen ninety two summit, reads, in order to meet the 0:15:35.120 --> 0:15:39.520 challenge of environment and development, states have decided to establish 0:15:39.560 --> 0:15:43.680 a new global partnership. It is recognized that for the 0:15:43.800 --> 0:15:47.480 success of this new partnership, it is important to overcome 0:15:47.640 --> 0:15:53.479 confrontation and to foster a climate of genuine cooperation and solidarity. 0:15:54.760 --> 0:15:57.560 It was at the many events run by a business 0:15:57.800 --> 0:16:02.359 surrounding that nineteen ninety two REO or summit that Harrison 0:16:02.600 --> 0:16:08.280 presented his paper on the concept of sustainable communication, or 0:16:08.280 --> 0:16:15.000 what we now call greenwashing. Here's Melissa Aronchick, a media 0:16:15.040 --> 0:16:18.680 studies scholar at Rutgers University and author of the book 0:16:18.760 --> 0:16:22.240 A Strategic Nature, which unpacks a lot of this history. 0:16:23.320 --> 0:16:25.000 I think it would be unfair to say, you know, 0:16:25.040 --> 0:16:28.360 he invented the idea of corporate social responsibility. That would 0:16:28.360 --> 0:16:29.960 be a little too much. But what we can say 0:16:30.200 --> 0:16:34.760 is that he did invent the idea of sustainable communication, 0:16:35.440 --> 0:16:38.720 which was so genius when you think about it, because 0:16:39.360 --> 0:16:43.840 what is sustainable communication means? It means communicating in such 0:16:43.840 --> 0:16:48.640 a way as to maintain sustainable relationships with the people 0:16:48.640 --> 0:16:50.480 that matter, the people who are going to vote for you, 0:16:50.600 --> 0:16:52.960 or the people who are going to support whatever it 0:16:53.000 --> 0:16:56.320 is your clients are doing. It does not mean sustainable 0:16:56.360 --> 0:16:59.040 practices or behaviors to protect the environment. 0:17:00.000 --> 0:17:03.960 Person wasn't exactly delivering his message to an unfriendly audience. 0:17:04.400 --> 0:17:07.800 Maurice Strong, the organizer of the Rio Earth Summit, was 0:17:07.920 --> 0:17:11.679 a former oil man himself and often talked about the 0:17:11.720 --> 0:17:15.520 need for industry to be part of any effective climate solution. 0:17:16.560 --> 0:17:19.680 It's also really important to remember that Maurice Strong, who 0:17:19.760 --> 0:17:23.480 was the organizer of that United Nations conference, was committed 0:17:23.520 --> 0:17:28.800 to having business participate in the conference. Maurice Strong was 0:17:29.480 --> 0:17:32.879 quite compelled or convinced by the idea that if you 0:17:33.000 --> 0:17:36.240 did not have business as a key stakeholder in these 0:17:36.280 --> 0:17:39.920 conversations about sustainable development, that you would never be able 0:17:40.000 --> 0:17:43.080 to enforce it. You needed to have business at the 0:17:43.119 --> 0:17:44.680 table and in agreement. 0:17:45.400 --> 0:17:48.480 In contrast to the nineteen seventy two convening, the un 0:17:48.560 --> 0:17:52.880 encouraged business community participation in Rio in nineteen ninety two 0:17:53.480 --> 0:17:56.359 and industry groups were ready to take advantage. 0:17:57.000 --> 0:17:59.679 Because business communities had been invited to the conference, and 0:17:59.720 --> 0:18:03.000 because they knew that their buying was so important, they 0:18:03.200 --> 0:18:07.199 planned extensively in the lead up to the conference to 0:18:07.280 --> 0:18:11.160 be able to present what they called their own sustainable 0:18:11.200 --> 0:18:15.719 development Charter. And as you can imagine, this charter was, 0:18:16.040 --> 0:18:18.080 you know, it did not contain anything that would have 0:18:18.280 --> 0:18:22.440 really transformed how companies did business. It was a very 0:18:22.480 --> 0:18:26.199 business as usual document, but it paid a lot of 0:18:26.400 --> 0:18:30.600 lip service to the idea of going green, being sustainable, 0:18:31.040 --> 0:18:34.640 being very concerned about the environment. And because they got 0:18:34.640 --> 0:18:37.480 out in front of the actual conference and the other 0:18:37.560 --> 0:18:40.760 types of events that were being designed. They were really 0:18:40.800 --> 0:18:44.360 able to put that document forward and stave off other 0:18:44.520 --> 0:18:49.520 kinds of more binding legislation or more draconian regulations that 0:18:49.560 --> 0:18:51.600 would have caused problems for these companies profits. 0:18:52.119 --> 0:18:55.520 By the time the third cop in Kyoto rolled around, 0:18:56.160 --> 0:19:01.320 industry was deeply entrenched in the process and absolutely determined 0:19:01.440 --> 0:19:05.399 to prevent a binding treaty from ever being ratified by 0:19:05.440 --> 0:19:09.800 the US. The Global Climate Coalition was at its peak 0:19:10.000 --> 0:19:12.840 at this point, fully funded and fighting the idea of 0:19:12.920 --> 0:19:18.280 Kyoto at every turn. Here's Brown University environmental sociologist doctor 0:19:18.400 --> 0:19:19.280 Robert Brule. 0:19:20.240 --> 0:19:24.240 The fossil fuel guys, they don't appeal to your head. 0:19:24.840 --> 0:19:30.399 They appeal to your emotions. And then when it comes to, 0:19:31.280 --> 0:19:34.679 you know, the economic impact, they're gonna basically, you know, 0:19:34.680 --> 0:19:38.000 you're gonna be cold and dark, eating you know, raw vegetables, 0:19:38.520 --> 0:19:43.120 you know. And it's an emotive function. That what the 0:19:43.160 --> 0:19:48.399 pr genius is. And you know, if you look at 0:19:48.400 --> 0:19:53.199 the commercial for the Global Climate, the gccs it's not 0:19:53.400 --> 0:19:57.560 global and it won't work. They get a map of 0:19:57.600 --> 0:20:00.520 the globe and they start cutting out the countries that 0:20:01.320 --> 0:20:04.520 don't have to comply, you know, with the Kyoto Protocol 0:20:04.960 --> 0:20:09.320 and they're cutting out China, India, and all of Africa, 0:20:09.760 --> 0:20:12.399 South America, and then they all that dispap all of 0:20:12.440 --> 0:20:15.360 these holes in it. You know, they said, this isn't fair, 0:20:15.800 --> 0:20:18.840 it won't work, and it's not fair. And that's what 0:20:18.920 --> 0:20:21.920 they ran on and guess what it worked. 0:20:22.280 --> 0:20:25.320 They worked with Senators Chuck Hagel and Robert Byrd to 0:20:25.560 --> 0:20:28.919 bake that idea into a resolution governing whether or not 0:20:29.000 --> 0:20:33.000 the United States could ratify Kyoto. Here's a Global Climate 0:20:33.000 --> 0:20:37.840 Coalition Chair Constance Holmes talking about it all back then. 0:20:39.320 --> 0:20:42.399 In July nineteen ninety seven, the Senate passed the bird 0:20:42.440 --> 0:20:45.760 Hegel Resolution on a ninety five to nothing vote, almost 0:20:45.760 --> 0:20:51.080 a nonprecedented vote. That resolution said, in essence, the Senate 0:20:51.119 --> 0:20:55.040 would not ratify an agreement that is not global, or 0:20:55.240 --> 0:20:58.360 would not ratify an agreement that caused the United States 0:20:58.400 --> 0:21:03.760 economy harmed. The Kyoto Protocol does not meet either test 0:21:03.920 --> 0:21:08.200 of the bird Hegel Resolution. The restrictions of the Kyoto 0:21:08.280 --> 0:21:12.679 Agreement apply only to thirty eight countries of the developed world, 0:21:13.240 --> 0:21:16.639 with no provision for participation of even the more developed 0:21:16.800 --> 0:21:19.960 of the rest of the world. On the first day 0:21:19.960 --> 0:21:23.240 of the Buenos Aires meeting the developing countries acting as 0:21:23.240 --> 0:21:26.520 a group, the Group of seventy seven in China refused 0:21:26.680 --> 0:21:32.600 to let the subject of developing country voluntary participation remain 0:21:32.800 --> 0:21:33.600 on the agenda. 0:21:34.560 --> 0:21:37.720 Fast forward thirty years and now it's the fossil fuel 0:21:37.760 --> 0:21:41.639 industry arguing that those seventy seven countries really need to 0:21:41.680 --> 0:21:49.160 be able to delay emissions reductions. Why because international oil 0:21:49.200 --> 0:21:53.359 companies need those countries oil to replace their reserves, and 0:21:53.400 --> 0:21:56.520 they need their citizens to keep burning fossil fuels as 0:21:56.560 --> 0:22:01.000 citizens in the Global North are reducing their usage. Without both, 0:22:01.480 --> 0:22:08.199 the industry is doomed. Here's Steve call, investigative journalist and 0:22:08.280 --> 0:22:11.720 author of the book Private Empire, about Exonmobile. 0:22:12.400 --> 0:22:17.320 They need the oil they have to replace what they 0:22:17.359 --> 0:22:21.639 pump every year, and they're just aren't that many places 0:22:21.800 --> 0:22:26.119 left where an American oil company can own the oil 0:22:26.560 --> 0:22:31.520 that they produce, And that's what Wall Street judges them by. 0:22:32.480 --> 0:22:34.840 That's very different from the picture of the US fossil 0:22:34.880 --> 0:22:38.040 fuel industry pains today when they talk about their projects 0:22:38.080 --> 0:22:40.680 in the Global selth or about the benefits of quote 0:22:40.720 --> 0:22:46.119 unquote cheap energy to those countries. Here's Mandy Gunnisakara a 0:22:46.160 --> 0:22:49.840 spokesperson for the CO two coalition, sort of a modern 0:22:49.920 --> 0:22:54.479 day global climate coalition, testifying to Congress on this front. 0:22:55.600 --> 0:22:59.159 This country's ability to harness our vast energy resources and 0:22:59.240 --> 0:23:02.399 a responsible in an efficient manner has changed millions of 0:23:02.440 --> 0:23:05.560 lives for the better. It is why life expectancy and 0:23:05.600 --> 0:23:10.600 economic growth, both important indicators of human flourishing, have significantly improved. 0:23:11.320 --> 0:23:14.560 Advancements in fossil based energy, and the development of modern 0:23:14.600 --> 0:23:18.200 economies has provided access to life saving technologies like heat 0:23:18.280 --> 0:23:23.840 during winter, water treatment, medicine, and refrigeration. A stark contrast 0:23:24.000 --> 0:23:27.359 exists today in countries that do not have sophisticated energy 0:23:27.359 --> 0:23:31.679 systems or access to affordable, reliable electricity, and parts of 0:23:31.720 --> 0:23:35.440 the developing world, life expectancy today is ten to twenty 0:23:35.480 --> 0:23:39.879 years shorter, and children under five regularly succumbed to preventable diseases. 0:23:40.400 --> 0:23:42.840 The reality is that we could change these outcomes by 0:23:42.840 --> 0:23:47.120 sharing our successful energy technologies, not by prohibiting their use 0:23:47.240 --> 0:23:49.639 as a result of misaligned environmental policies. 0:23:50.240 --> 0:23:54.480 The conversation gets a little messier when oil producing countries 0:23:54.600 --> 0:23:57.640 in the global South advocate for the ability to develop 0:23:57.720 --> 0:24:01.879 and use the fossil fuels within their borders for longer. 0:24:02.080 --> 0:24:05.320 And it makes sense. How dare the global North, which 0:24:05.320 --> 0:24:08.800 has amassed so much wealth thanks to abundant fossil fuels, 0:24:09.000 --> 0:24:11.840 turn around and tell the global South that they can't 0:24:11.840 --> 0:24:15.280 do the same. I asked Melinda Jenki, an attorney who's 0:24:15.320 --> 0:24:19.080 fighting to shut down oil drilling in her country, Guyana, 0:24:19.440 --> 0:24:23.240 this question, especially because it's not just Exonmobile making this 0:24:23.480 --> 0:24:27.000 argument about the benefit of oil to Guyana, but many 0:24:27.080 --> 0:24:28.600 of her fellow citizens too. 0:24:29.480 --> 0:24:36.360 The global North has basically broken the global climate system 0:24:36.600 --> 0:24:40.199 as a result of greenhouse gas pollution, and I think 0:24:40.280 --> 0:24:44.240 we should stop talking about emissions and call it what 0:24:44.359 --> 0:24:49.680 it is, which is pollution from fossil fuels. It is 0:24:49.720 --> 0:24:54.000 incredibly stupid for anybody to say, well, because you did 0:24:54.040 --> 0:24:57.800 something bad and broke it, we now have a right 0:24:58.000 --> 0:24:59.800 to do something bad and break it. 0:25:00.160 --> 0:25:03.920 Even further, Steve call notes that you need only look 0:25:04.000 --> 0:25:06.679 at the last one hundred years or so to see 0:25:06.720 --> 0:25:10.560 that when oil comes to town citizens are not in 0:25:10.680 --> 0:25:13.720 fact lifted out of poverty. 0:25:14.800 --> 0:25:17.240 Does not pan out for anyone other than the elites 0:25:17.280 --> 0:25:21.840 of those countries. That's what the record shows, and development economics, 0:25:22.440 --> 0:25:24.720 you know, it may not be a hard science like physics. 0:25:24.760 --> 0:25:28.320 But it has pretty well established that the so called 0:25:28.400 --> 0:25:33.360 resource curse in developing countries is a real thing, over 0:25:33.400 --> 0:25:36.959 and over again. And it's not only oil. Other resources 0:25:37.000 --> 0:25:42.160 can produce the same cycle. But partly what happens is 0:25:42.200 --> 0:25:46.600 that the elites that control the resource that produces sudden 0:25:46.760 --> 0:25:52.520 wealth and sudden opportunity generally don't distribute the benefits equitably. 0:25:53.040 --> 0:25:57.280 And I'm not even talking about some utopian socialist kind 0:25:57.359 --> 0:26:02.719 of perfect distribution, but even just to reinvest it in 0:26:02.760 --> 0:26:09.320 a sustainable strategy of private enterprise lad development just generally 0:26:09.359 --> 0:26:14.680 doesn't happen. There are a few examples of rulers who 0:26:14.880 --> 0:26:18.199 lived for ten or fifteen years and who weren't so 0:26:18.440 --> 0:26:21.880 selfish as to keep it all for themselves and so on, 0:26:22.000 --> 0:26:24.719 but they are more the exception than the rule. And 0:26:24.760 --> 0:26:29.800 it's not just about the greed of elites. It's also 0:26:31.119 --> 0:26:37.920 about the way sudden wealth distorts the patterns of investment 0:26:38.520 --> 0:26:46.360 in a country by essentially alleviating the pressure to educate 0:26:46.720 --> 0:26:51.560 a new generation of young scientists and tech entrepreneurs or 0:26:51.640 --> 0:26:55.560 wealth creators, or people who are going to figure out 0:26:55.600 --> 0:26:59.040 how to save and improve agriculture in an era of 0:26:59.080 --> 0:27:03.760 climate Chain said all of these urgent problems that emerging 0:27:03.800 --> 0:27:07.920 countries face in the global South, I mean, they get 0:27:07.960 --> 0:27:12.600 displaced by the easy money that comes from a resource boom, 0:27:13.040 --> 0:27:18.600 and so you end up not only running out of 0:27:18.680 --> 0:27:22.679 the bounty when the oil is depleted, but you've missed 0:27:22.720 --> 0:27:26.480 the opportunity to pursue, you know, course of development, like 0:27:26.520 --> 0:27:29.960 the one easy example that is often cited I think 0:27:30.000 --> 0:27:35.199 for good reason, and it can be distorted around, you know, 0:27:35.280 --> 0:27:41.000 issues of culture or race and can be I think misstated. 0:27:41.800 --> 0:27:45.200 But with that caveat, I mean, in the nineteen fifties, 0:27:46.640 --> 0:27:51.600 Nigeria and South Korea had roughly the same per capita 0:27:51.680 --> 0:27:56.359 income and they were both very poor countries. South Korea 0:27:56.400 --> 0:27:59.920 had just emerged from a terrible long experience of Warnaki 0:28:00.080 --> 0:28:06.480 patient and Nigeria was blessed with this huge oil bounty, 0:28:06.640 --> 0:28:10.959 and South Korea chose to kind of industrialize on its 0:28:11.000 --> 0:28:13.960 own without a lot of resources. And in you know, 0:28:14.000 --> 0:28:18.000 a single generation, one country got rich and the other one, uh, 0:28:18.240 --> 0:28:22.720 you know, cycled through the resource curse. And you know, 0:28:22.840 --> 0:28:27.720 economists point to that and say, you know, statistically, Nigeria 0:28:27.760 --> 0:28:31.760