DE IMO ROLT DE RODE LOPER UIT VOOR GREENWASHING
30.09.2024
⬆️ Greenwashing sponge ‘Scrubby’ unleashes its security to pin Poseidon to the carpet. A sea-god is no match against corporate greed. Eat carpet sea-god! Photo Guy Reece.
Today Ocean Rebellion protested against greenwashing at the UN International Maritime Organisation (IMO).
On the first day of the UN IMO MEPC82 (82nd Marine Environmental Protection Committee), IMO delegates and Member States were treated to a red carpet reception in honour of their awe-inspiring greenwashing of the fossil fuel, Liquid Natural Gas (LNG).
Arriving in a white Rolls Royce to host the red carpet and greet delegates from Member States was International Unicode Emoji megastar influencer (and master greenwasher), ‘Scrubby‘ the green sponge, corporate star of New York Climate Week.
⬆️ LNG flames roar the arrival of Scrubby. Go Scrubby, those LNG flames need a good greenwashing. Photo João Daniel Pereira.
Scrubby drifted in on currents from the States to greet delegates from the Netherlands, Canada, the US, South Korea, Japan, China, Australia, the UK, and Brazil. Security was provided by a band of athletic goons paid for by Royal Caribbean, Maersk, CMA CGM en MSCC. Scrubby was keen to thank them for their help greenwashing Liquid Natural Gas (LNG) and for their support in publicising its campaign through their Pro-LNG lobbying group SEA-LNG. The excited sponge couldn’t contain itself as it oozed green slime across the red carpet while LNG flames flared spectacularly in the background.
Het lot van de oceaan hangt van ons allemaal af.
Onze interventies zijn afhankelijk van uw steun.
scrubby loves fossil fuels
⬆️ Delegates from the US and Canada flank Scrubby, both carry a briefcase containing samples of the fracked gas they’ll be selling to the shipping industry. Photo João Daniel Pereira.
scrubby loves lng
⬆️ Security gags Poseidon and the Sirens. The truth isn’t important to the fossil fuel industry, they will do anything to stop people from hearing how harmful LNG is. Foto Guy Reece.
Enraged by Scrubby and his shoddy greenwashing, protestors from Ocean Rebellion, led by Poseidon and her Sirens, burst onto the red carpet. Three security guards tried to prevent Poseidon from accosting Scrubby and the red carpet became a battleground.
Poseidon tried to lecture Scrubby on how appalling greenwashing is, how it confuses the public and allows companies like Maersk, Royal Caribbean, and MSC to hoodwink IMO delegates by claiming LNG is a green fuel. She tried to tell Scrubby how the IMO is doing nothing to stop LNG becoming the fossil fuel of choice for shipping. But Scrubby’s security had other plans. First of all they gagged the sea-god and then they wrestled her to the floor, where they pinned her down and crushed her spirits.
⬆️ The sea-god was crushed by a magic sponge of greenwashing lies. Photo Guy Reece.
In the European Union alone, consumption of LNG by ships has doubled from 2.2 million tonnes (Mt) in 2018 to 4.4 Mt in 2022. LNG uptake is based on the deceptive notion that it is an alternative, clean fuel. This is where LNG proponents are engaging in gaslighting, deceiving the maritime sector and all of us.
Gaslighting is a form of psychological manipulation used to make you doubt your own perceptions and sanity, often by distorting facts or reality. LNG fans are employing gaslighting tactics, like funding research and selectively citing studies that support their narrative terwijl onderzoekers die de risico's van LNG benadrukken in diskrediet worden gebracht. Ze ondermijnen ook afwijkende meningen en opinieleiders door ze te bestempelen als "paniekzaaiers" of "dwarsliggers".
⬆️ Scrubby squeezes out of a white Rolls Royce. Greenwashing sponges can fit in very tight spaces. This makes them perfect for institutions like the IMO – they can slip in unseen disguised as credible organisations, like SEA-LNG, and pretend they have a green solution to shippings pollution problems. Photo João Daniel Pereira.
Enterprises such as these, engaging in gaslighting while making sustainability claims, may be violating their legal responsibilities to shareholders and risk litigation if such material risks, including the litigation risk, are not properly reflected in their audited accounts. Likewise, credit rating agencies which fail to detect this greenwash are also failing to give accurate sustainability readouts to their subscribers in the financial sector.
Not to mention any failure of ethical responsibilities to wider stakeholders to avoid collapsing climate, nature and society by means of fugitive methane, and of the fossil carbon emissions that result from LNG. Far from clean, LNG is one of the dirtiest fuels there is. Touting it as a clean fuel is a technological lie. You couldn’t make it up, except they did!
⬆️ Security drags the sea-god away, it’s the Thames for you Poseidon (make sure you don’t swallow the water, it’ll be full of shit after today’s downpour). Photo João Daniel Pereira.
Vloeibaar aardgas (LNG) de feiten
LNG is een fossiele brandstof die bij winning, vervoer en verbranding als scheepsbrandstof methaan lekt in de atmosfeer - een gevaarlijk aardopwarmingsgas dat over 80 keer meer klimaatopwarming op korte termijn dan kooldioxide.
Het Intergouvernementeel Panel inzake klimaatverandering van de VN (IPCC) geïdentificeerd snelle vermindering van de methaanuitstoot als een van de topprioriteiten om de opwarming van de aarde zo dicht mogelijk bij 1,5°C te houden. Het IPCC laatste verslag gericht op klimaatmitigatie maakt duidelijk dat fossiel gas in de vorm van LNG geen oplossing is voor het koolstofvrij maken van de scheepvaart.
In tegenstelling tot wat de klimaatwetenschap voorschrijft, gaan scheepvaart- en havenbedrijven voluit de verkeerde kant op, zwaar investeren in fossiel LNG, met als argument dat de brandstof hun milieueffecten en klimaatverontreiniging zal verminderen. Momenteel zijn er wereldwijd meer dan 785 nieuwe vrachtschepen in bestelling, waarvan er meer dan 400 worden gebouwd om op fossiel LNG te varen.
Het verbranden van meer fossiel LNG aan boord van schepen is een ramp in wording voor onze planeet. Het zou de methaanuitstoot van schepen, die al... roos met 150% tussen 2012 en 2018, volgens de Internationale Maritieme Organisatie van de VN (IMO).
Methane emissions also decrease air quality and the increased demand for LNG—including in the marine sector—leads to adverse land-based impacts, such as polluted drinking water, reduction in crop production, and higher premature death rates.
⬆️ A delegate films the mayhem. Photo João Daniel Pereira.
We hebben strenge methaanregels nodig bij de IMO
Volgens de IPCC (AR6)Om de klimaatcrisis en de verwoestende gevolgen ervan voor mensen aan te pakken, moet de methaanuitstoot op korte termijn dringend worden aangepakt. Voorstanders van LNG lichten beleidsmakers in over de werkelijke omvang van de gevolgen van LNG voor het klimaat en de gezondheid, terwijl ze een leefbare toekomst op deze planeet in gevaar brengen.
The International Maritime Organisation is the United Nations body regulating international shipping. Momenteel bestaat er geen specifieke internationale regelgeving voor methaanemissies door schepen. However, several opportunities exist to comprehensively integrate methane into the IMO’s regulatory framework during the upcoming 82nd Marine Environmental Protection Committee (MEPC82) this week. If this doesn’t happen we propose a more drastic future for the IMO.
Call for action at the IMO:
LNG is a fossil fuel that negatively impacts people, the environment, and the climate at every stage of its life cycle.
We demand:
1. The Member States of the IMO recognise this fact and stop listening to the SEA LNG lobbyists.
2. All companies involved in the promotion of LNG are scrutinised to establish if this is a breach of their Environmental Sustainability Goals.
3. The IMO to promote efficiency and the use of sail and electrically powered vessels by incentivising uptake in the shipping sector, empowering and upskilling workers and introducing fairer shipping routes.
⬆️ Here’s Scrubby! Photo Guy Reece.
If the IMO does not act Ocean Rebellion demands:
De VN moet een nieuw, transparant en representatief orgaan vormen om de oceaan te besturen ten behoeve van ALLE leven. Dit nieuwe orgaan moet het herstel en de aanvulling van de oceaan als enige maatstaf voor succes hebben. Het moet bedrijfsmacht vervangen door mensenmacht. En het moet de vele vormen van zeeleven vertegenwoordigen die van de oceaan hun thuis maken.
⬆️ “You looking at me?” Photo João Daniel Pereira.