France: Environmental activists disrupt finance and climate summit in Paris

Environmental activists on Tuesday disrupted a summit on finance and climate that began the same day in Paris.

Through their action, activists from Friends of the Earth and Alternatiba, two unions fighting against climate change, who put the symbol of hydrocarbons on their heads, aimed to denounce “government inaction”.

They raised slogans, “Choose between fossil fuels or for us to come”, at the end of a conference by the Minister of Economy and Finance, Bruno Le Maire, in the main auditorium of the Palais Broganiaart.

Climate Finance Day is a conference that brings together major players in international finance to discuss global warming.

“This is a massive greenwashing summit where financial players come together to highlight climate commitments that are grossly underfunded,” Friends of the Earth spokeswoman Loret Philippe said in a statement released by local media.

“The French bank and the financial center of Paris which communicate that it is the capital of green finance … In fact, today, it is the first financial center in Europe to finance fossil fuels. Fossil fuel financing for major French banks COP21 has only increased since then,” the spokesperson condemned.

“We will no longer be funding gas projects that do not strictly and transparently comply with the best international environmental standards”, Bruno Le Maire announced a few minutes ago.

According to the French government calendar, export financing will end in 2025 for oil and in 2035 for gas.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *