International RT Hoax Targets Big Carbon

Submitted by Anonymous on Mon, 12/03/2007 - 20:34

Spoof WebsiteToday, the International Rising Tide network pulled off a Yes Men style hoax targeting the 33 businesses and organisations that form the US Climate Action Partnership (including BP, Caterpillar, ConocoPhillips, Dow, DuPont, Ford, General Electric, General Motors Corp., Shell and Xerox to name but a few). The hoax was timed to coincide with the opening of the United Nations climate summit in Bali in an effort to expose the disproportionate influence of large corporations on the climate negotiations, and the greenwash these companies spin instead of taking any real initiative on fossil fuel reduction.

The hoax (involving RT activists from the US, UK, Canada and Australia) began with a spoof press release which declared that the consortium’s members had committed to a 90% reduction in their greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 and were calling for a moratorium on building coal power plants. To support the press release, which was emailed to thousands of business correspondents around the world, a phony USCAP website was created (www.climateactionpartnership.org), and journalists were instructed to contact USCAP via equally fictional ‘Parsons & Fischer Public Relations’ offices, located in each country.

The story was picked up and run by several media outlets and blogs before the spoof website was abruptly shut down. The Guardian (having called BP and Shell, who both denied the outrageous suggestion that they just might be matching their rhetoric with a bit of action) and US Reuters journalists realised that USCAP members would never agree to such progressive reductions in carbon emissions or a moratorium on coal power plants, and the hoax was busted. By this time however Rising Tide activists had done interviews with journalists around the world and even received calls from real USCAP companies enquiring about the website and press release.

Rising Tide now intends to change the spoof website into an archive of the environmental misdeeds and human rights abuses of USCAP’s members.

Check out coverage of the hoax in The Guardian, The New York Times and Reuters.

Original press release from faux USCAP group:
___________________________________________________________________________
For Immediate Release
December 3, 2007

Contacts:
Joan Adams, Parsons & Fischer, 202-684-8097, jadams@parsonsfischer.com
Jack Escobar, Parsons & Fischer, 202-683-8451, jescobar@parsonsfischer.com

Information at www.climateactionpartnership.org

MAJOR US BUSINESSES ANNOUNCE COMMITMENT TO REDUCE GREENHOUSE GAS EMISSIONS BY 90%

Washington, D.C., Dec. 3, 2007 - The U.S. Climate Action Partnership (USCAP), a consortium of 33 prominent businesses and organizations, announced today a commitment amongst its members to a 90% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. The announcement was timed to coincide with the opening of a major United Nations climate summit in Bali.

“In an effort to encourage decisive action in Bali this week, USCAP’s members have committed to a 90% reduction in their greenhouse gas emissions by 2050,” said Matt Leopard, a spokesperson for the consortium. “This commitment should send a strong message to the assembled countries and businesses about the type of reductions needed to stop global warming.”

USCAP’s members include many US market leaders such as Alcoa, BP, Caterpillar, ConocoPhillips, Dow, DuPont, Ford, General Electric, General Motors Corp., Johnson & Johnson, PepsiCo, PG&E, Shell and Xerox. USCAP’s goal is to further public policy that will reduce greenhouse gas emissions and protect the climate.

The announcement from USCAP’s members also includes a mid-term commitment to reduce greenhouse gas emissions 45% from 1990 levels by 2020. Following the leads of NASA’s top climate scientist James Hansen, as well as bi-partisan political leaders, USCAP is also calling for an immediate moratorium on the construction of new coal-fired power plants.

Toward this end, USCAP is urging the US and other industrialized nations to enact a policy framework for mandatory reductions of greenhouse gas emissions from all sectors of the economy. USCAP has produced a comprehensive set of principles and recommendations for scientifically effective, socially responsible climate policy. This document, titled A Call to Action1, has been released by USCAP to underscore the urgent need for a comprehensive policy shift on energy and climate.

USCAP is the first consortium of major businesses to make such a commitment in hopes that it will yield to policy decisions to accelerate the deployment of zero-emission technologies and energy efficiency. In particular, USCAP is promoting landmark legislation for a government funded “Sustainable Job Corps.” This politically popular program would create 5 million jobs building a new public utility grid based on renewable technologies, with a goal of producing 50% of the US energy supply by 2020.

“USCAP has offered a plan for the US to lead by example in efforts to protect the climate,” said Matt Leopard. “The world governments assembled in Bali this week should begin a rapid transition to zero-emission energy sources and commit to a 90% reduction from 1990 levels by 2050″.2

USCAP’s website is www.climateactionpartnership.org.

___________________________________________________________________________

Community