FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE December 3, 2012 Youth to UN: Do The Math: Fossil Fuel Money Is Undermining Democracy And

Our Futures Youth activists confront fossil fuel companies for undermining climate progress and funding disinformation Doha, Qatar Early this morning youth from around the world lined the moving sidewalks that carry negotiators from security checkpoints into the plenary halls of the 18th round of United Nations climate talks. Thus far fingers have been pointed at a number of different countries for blocking progress toward a meaningful international agreement on reducing greenhouse emissions to levels that would minimize disruption of the climate system and subsequent threats to people and property. The youth demonstration this morning sought to point out an important character operating behind the scenes, multinational fossil fuel corporations. Rather than chanting slogans, the activists stood silently holding signs that highlighted some of the math behind why and how fossil fuel companies have spent enormous sums of money to undermine the credibility of climate science and block legislation that would enable industrialized countries to reduce emissions to levels consistent with internationally agreed upon targets. Hannah Bristol, a student at Middlebury College in the US, explained, People need to understand that big oil doesnt act with their interests in mind. All the best science agrees that the world economy can only burn 565 gigatons more carbon between now and mid-century if we want a decent chance of keeping average global temperature increases below two degrees celsius and avoiding catastrophic disruption of the climate system. The global fossil fuel industry is banking on burning all of the 2795 gigatons of carbon they have in their reserves, five times the safe amount. Its a question of keeping the stuff in the ground and writing off those assets or burning it and writing off our future. The concept of a 565 gigaton carbon budget is an area of broad consensus amongst climate scientists and has been supported by the Intergovernmental Panel On Climate Change. The calculation of carbon in proven reserves comes from the Carbon Tracker Initiative led by James Leaton, an environmentalist who served as an adviser at accounting giant PricewaterhouseCoopers. The analysis is also supported by the International Energy Agencys most recent World Energy Outlook report, and has become a central argument behind the wave of fossil fuel divestment campaigns that have sprung up on over 100 college and university campuses across North America. Neelam Khare, a student at Simon Fraser University in Vancouver, Canada added to the discussion, Fossil fuel companies have been shockingly successful at buying our democracies and selling out my generation and those who will come after me. They spend hundreds of thousands of dollars every day on lobbying, millions on their own PR, and millions to fund think tanks that publish denialist junk science despite a 99.8% consensus in peer reviewed literature that climate change is a real and serious problem. In Canada their influence has grown so strong that it extends to foreign policy. They have colluded with the government to undermine European fuel standards and even given their rubber stamp to Canadian negotiating positions for summits such as this. Many activists from outside North America also took part in the demonstration to show their support. Abdulla Saif a young Bahraini with the Arab Youth Climate Movement explained his participation, "I am from the Arab Gulf where oil production makes up the lion's share of economic activity. Our movement is pushing for diversif ication because we understand that fossil fuels aren't the energy sources of the future, but progress is inherently slow. Countries like the US and Canada, which contribute much higher levels of emissions than the Gulf States, could more easily lead the global transition to clean energy if only their politics weren't so polluted by industry money." ### Photos available on request. Contact: Mike Sandmel media@sustainus.org Meghan McCarthy meghanemilymccarthy@gmail.com (947) 300 96 841