No Place for Climate Villains
This week, movers and shakers from around the world descended on New York City to attend NYC Climate Week. The annual event, which has become a precursor to the UN climate negotiations, brings together activists, scientists, academics, politicians, and business leaders to spur action on the climate crisis. Sounds good, right? But a quick look at event sponsors page reveals more than a few climate villains casting a sizable shadow over the gathering. Take Meta, a “gold partner” for Climate Week despite the social media giant’s well-documented role in spreading climate disinformation and blocking media outlets critical of its climate-related practices. Then there is “platinum partner” McKinsey Sustainability, a branch of the global consulting firm McKinsey and Company, which boasts more than a few major fossil fuel and mining clients. The “opening ceremony sponsor,” meanwhile, is Saint-Gobain, a plastics manufacturer, and one of the “stream session” partners is Engie, a French energy company that generates 50 percent of its electricity from fossil fuels and continues to develop natural gas projects. Given this roster, it’s no surprise that carbon markets are getting major play at Climate Week, including with events like “credit where it’s due” and “navigating voluntary carbon markets” led by — you guessed it — carbon market buyers, sellers, certifiers, and more. Thankfully, there are folks calling out this type of hypocrisy. On the eve of the event, youth across the city walked out of their classes to strike against greenwashing. Protesters disrupted a New York Times-hosted talk featuring Occidental Petroleum CEO Vicki Hollub. Demonstrators gathered outside Citibank headquarters demanding that it divest from fossil fuels. The NYC Climate Week theme this year is “It’s Time.” As in, it’s time to act on the climate crisis. That’s true. The question is what kind of action we want to take: The incremental kind of change that prioritizes profit and is palatable to industry insiders? Or the type of radical, systems-changing action that is required to stop our global crisis? It’s up to us to decide.
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