On
“Deep
Decarbonization,”
Governments
Not Involved,
Ban
Takes No Qs
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
July 8 -- When
UN Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon came
to
“launch,” as
the UN puts
it, the “Pathways
to Deep
Decarbonization”
report at
11 am on July
8 it was a
decidedly
one-way
launch: Ban
spoke but did
not take any
questions.
Why not?
Ban's
public
schedule did
not list
another
appointment
until 12:50
pm, with new
envoy on Western
Sahara Kim
Bolduc. So why
not?
Nevertheless
the
French
minister and
ambassador on
climate
negotiations
Laurence
Tubiana who
remained
behind thanked
Ban. Inner
City Press
asked
Tubiana what
relation, if
any, there is
between the 15
country-specific
sections of
the report and
the
governments of
those
countries.
Tubiana
began
that “each
country was
independent”
-- then
Jeffrey Sachs,
also on the
panel,
corrected her,
Country not
government.
She
agreed, saying
that later
these reports
would spark a
dialogue in
countries,
including with
the
governments.
Inner
City Press
asked about
countries --
governments --
effectively
censoring 70%
of the
“Summary for
Policymakers”
of the most
recent IPCC
report. Will
that process
be allowed to
continue in
connection
with the
climate
negotiations
upcoming in
France? We'll
see.
On nuclear
power, it was
Sachs who
spoke and not
the two
representatives
of France,
global
promoter - and
miner - for
nuclear power.
The
UN as usual
set-aside the
first question
for its UN
Censorship
Alliance,
whose head
Pamela Falk
asked about a
proposal by
Henry
“Hank”
Paulson, whom
she identified
as a former US
Treasury
Secretary. Uh,
and Goldman
Sachs, no? The
new Free
UN Coalition
for
Access then
thanked the
panelist --
Ban Ki-moon as
noted had
already
left -- and
asked about
governments'
censorship.
At
the end Ban's
spokesman
Stephane
Dujarric
delayed the
noon briefing
for fifteen
minutes to
allow French
ambassador
Tubiana to
interactive
with... France
24, among
others. The
Free UN
Coalition for
Access has
asked
that the
policy of when
and for whom /
which
countries UN
briefings are
delayed or
postponed
should be
transparent
and
even-handed.
Watch this
site.
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