14 DAY TRIAL // Talking the talk is pretty much pointless unless one is also ready and willing to walk the walk, somebody should inform Japan, Australia and Canada. By the looks of it, the World Wildlife Fund has taken it upon itself to be this “somebody.”
During this year's climate change conference in Warsaw, Poland, Japan announced that it would lower its greenhouse gas emissions reduction target.
Specifically, it said that, instead of pushing to cut emissions by 25% when compared to 1990 levels, it would try and lower emissions by 3.8% compared to 2005.
The World Wildlife Fund was quick to point out that this new goal was actually a 3.1% increase in greenhouse gas emissions when taking into account 1990 levels, and did not hesitate to shame Japan for its ill-inspired decision.
Australia, who announced plans to end its carbon tax, together with Canada, who congratulated it for this move and urged other countries to do the same, also got a slap on the wrist.
The World Wildlife Fund says that, given the overwhelming evidence that climate change and global warming are man-made phenomena, it does not make sense for these countries to implement rules and regulations that, instead of leading to an improvement in their ecological footprint, promote environmental pollution.
Speaking to the press, Tasneem Essop with the Fund mentioned the typhoon that recently hit the Philippines and argued that, since storms like this one would only become more frequent as climate change and global warming progressed, countries worldwide must do their best to curb emissions.
“This makes the actions of Japan, Australia and Canada at these talks all the more difficult to comprehend. There is a fundamental disconnect between the reality of climate change and the attitudes of these counties. They must be held to account to explain their actions,” Tasneem Essop said, as cited by the Latin American Herald Tribune.
“Applauding Australia’s backwards steps to repeal its carbon price, when Canada is so far off its own targets, undermines the critical opportunity to advance action. Canada's unwillingness to take even the most basic steps to close its emissions gap is a national embarrassment on this global stage,” added David Miller, president and CEO of WWF-Canada.
The organization believes that all these three countries are guilty of “undermining progress” and “creating uncertainty,” and urges them to reconsider their decisions end carbon taxes and go back on previous promises to curb emissions.