INDONESIA: December 4, 2007


BALI - It's not easy being green. Particularly if you are one of the big polluters - Saudi Arabia, the United States and Canada. All three earned the first "Fossil of the Day Awards" at UN-led climate change talks in Bali on Monday, with each receiving a little sack of coal adorned with their national flags at a mock award ceremony filled with boos and laughter.


The awards, a daily feature of annual Kyoto Protocol gatherings, are presented by youth delegations from around the world to heap scorn on nations accused of having less-than-green views.

Saudi Arabia, the world's top oil exporter and renowned for refusing to endorse any emissions targets, won its award for being the most obscurely obstructive in the Bali talks on Monday.

The United States, the world's top greenhouse gas emitter, earned its award for "blocking the international effort to fight climate change", a young American award recipient said.

Delegates from Canada, which has ratified Kyoto but failed to meet its reduction targets, were accused of telling a committee in Bali that emission reduction obligations were not necessary for all largest emitting countries.

"After backing out of our own Kyoto commitments we have absolutely no credibility in demanding new obligations for others," a Canadian youth activist said when she accepted the award.


Story by David Fogarty


REUTERS NEWS SERVICE