The Climate summit that went up in smoke.

By Rikke G. F. Carlsson - Communist Party in Denmark

Once again the governments of all the world met to a climate summit. This time in Glasgow. Before parting the capitalists and their lobbyists clapped in their fat hands, as India carried out the last amendment on the phasing out of coal. A play to the gallery, but without any real action.

That of course would be an illusion. There has been lots of time to plan and act in accordance with the warnings of scientists. Capitalism has had its chance to point to another direction, and it has only worsened the situation.

In Europe, the continent of Denmark, where we are part of the European Union, the union is as black as coal. It must be remembered, that EU was born as the coal- and steel union, later the Common Market and now a confirmed union. The new strategy leads to stricter requirements for lending money to the coal plants, but not stopping it. Thus the European Investment Bank will still be able to give favorable loans to new coal plants, with a duration of twenty to thirty years.

The European Investment Bank has recently given loans to coal plants in Poland, Romania and Slovenia.

This is not in accordance with EUs proclaimed climate-policy, where the aim is to reduce the emissions of greenhouse gasses with eighty percent in 2050 compared with 1990. But who wonders?

In 2019, elections were held for the EU-Parliament and for most countries, climate was the main theme. The voters demanded action on climate from the EU-system. But just one month after the climate-election, the Commission of EU signed the trade agreement between EU and Mercosur, consisting of Brazil, Argentine, Paraguay and Uruguay. Although the treaty is signed by the Commission, it cannot be implemented until more entities in the EU approve of it. Now, two years later, this has not yet happened, but it will come. The treaty between EU and Mercosur is heavily criticized for the effect it will have concerning cheap labor, biodiversity and the climate. Organizations from climate and agriculture and scientists protest loudly against the treaty – but then, capital is used to that.

Cars for cows

A central part of the EU-Mercosur-treaty is, that it must be cheaper for the Mercosur-countries to buy European cars, and for the EU to buy South American beef. The VAT-reductions are informally called the cares for cows treaty, and it is problematic for several reasons. Danish slaughter-houses are a big part of this deal and already deeply involved in the burning of forests.

Trading beef from Brazil is however especially bad. The puppet of capital, Jair Bolsonaro, escalated the burning of the rainforest, where the savanna, rich in species, called the Cerrado, has been transformed into farming at great harm to the climate and the biodiversity.

Social and environmental consequences of deforestation

It is assumed that the demand on beef will rise when it is cheaper to buy beef from the countries of Mercosur. The same goes for the other agricultural products like soy, which also will be cheaper on account of the treaty. Accordingly more nature that should be protected will probably be turned into farming land. This happens with the burning of forests.

Apart from the probable destruction of nature by increased farming, people are also expelled: A vast part of the land belonging to the original population of Brazil is being changed into farmland. Increase in cattle and soy exports is thus both at question of climate and of human rights.

For the EU-Commission to make the choice of signing an agricultural treaty with among others Brazil in 2019, constitutes a blueprint of the methods of Bolsonaro.

In the rich part of the world the windmill-industry has been greenwashed. An industry, that leaves millions of tons of fiberglass-wings, which can’t be demolished and are stacked in dumps, an unsolved problem. But as energy is privatized, the waste problem is not talked about and not solved.

We must demand that energy is nationalized, so that research is carried out to the benefit of the peoples and the globe. We must make allies with science in the organizations of our parties.