LAHORE: Due to be attended by presidents, prime ministers and monarchs representing around 150 countries, including Pakistan, the high-profile 2015 United Nations Climate Change Conference will get underway at the Le Bourget suburbs of Paris from Monday (today). Apart from Pakistan’s participation through Premier Nawaz Sharif, the 170 million Euro Paris 2015 Conference will also be attended by the rulers of United States, Switzerland, Austria, India, Australia, the United Kingdom, Netherlands, Belgium, Denmark, Norway, Italy, Spain, Japan, Canada, Germany, Luxembourg, Sweden, China, Russian Federation, New Zealand, Czech Republic, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Iceland, Malta, Turkey, Hungary, Ireland, Romania, Israel, Finland, Ukraine, Poland, Brazil, Indonesia, Afghanistan, Nigeria, Cyprus, Slovenia, Estonia, Greece, Croatia, the Bahamas, Georgia, Jordan, Sri Lanka, Peru, Bulgaria, Iraq, Vietnam, Tunisia, Ecuador, the Dominican Republic, Philippines, Bahrain, Mexico, Yemen, Zimbabwe, Serbia, Senegal, Chile, Thailand, Honduras, Morocco, Monaco, South Korea, Mauritius, Kazakhstan, Montenegro, Cook Islands, Bangladesh, State of Holy See, Grenada, Costa Rica, Ghana, Argentina, Guatemala, Lithuania, Egypt, Lebanon, Mauritania, Ivory Coast, Marshall Islands, Kenya, Cambodia, Haiti, Lesotho, Madagascar, Congo, Republic of Moldova, Togo, Guinea, Tuvalu, Fiji, Central African Republic, Mozambique, Saint Lucia, Cuba, Angola, Uganda, South Africa, Venezuela, Azerbaijan, Bolivia, Nauru, Kyrgyzstan, Palau, Benin, Burkina Faso, Palestine, Cameroon, Chad, Gabon, Paraguay, Botswana, Comoros, Rwanda, Equatorial Guinea, Congo, Djibouti, Republic of Macedonia, Armenia, Qatar, Albania, Trinidad and Tobago, Barbados, Samoa, Algeria, Andorra, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Papua New Guinea, Ethiopia, Cape Verde, Swaziland, Antigua and Barbuda, Kiribati, Colombia, Tajikistan, Panama, Micronesia, Mongolia, Namibia, Guinea-Bissau, Niger, President of the European Commission and Sao Tome and Principe. The primary goal of the November 30—December 11, 2015 Paris moot is to reduce the emissions of the greenhouse gases like water vapours, Carbon Dioxide, Methane, Nitrous Oxide and Ozone etc. in a bid to limit the global temperature increase. About 20 per cent of the €170 million (about Rs1.9 billion) cost of the Paris conference will come from international business conglomerates like Messrs Environmental Defence Fund (EDF) of Britain, Engie (formerly known as GDF Suez), Air France, Renault-Nissan and BNP Paribas, the largest French bank that had pleaded guilty in June 2014 to concealing billions of dollars in transactions for clients in Sudan, Iran and Cuba in violation of American sanctions and had consequently agreed to pay $8.9 billion in fines. Similarly, another Paris conference sponsor—-the Environmental Defence Fund—-was ordered in March 2012 by the British industry regulator to pay back an amount to the tune of £4.5 million to its customers for providing them incomplete information about contract terms and regarding the calculations of monthly direct debit payments and estimates of annual consumption. And yet another Paris Summit financier—-Messrs Engie of France—-was fined 553 million Euros by the European Union in July 2009 for forming a secret cartel with a German energy giant Messrs E.ON to carve up national gas markets between them. The two firms had agreed in 1975 not to sell natural gas in each others’ markets. The German firm was also fined 553 million Euros by the European Union. When names of the sponsors of the conference under review were announced by French government functionaries during May this year, numerous NGOs like Oxfam France had furiously denounced the move as “greenwash” and hypocrisy, contending that the Paris Summit would now “be financed by French champions of pollution.” However, prestigious global media houses like “The Guardian” had reported a few months ago that the Paris summit organisers had turned down offers of financial assistance from some fossil fuel companies – and other carbon intensive corporate entities. (References: The United Nations, US Justice Department, the March 9, 2012 and May 29, 2015 editions of The Guardian, the CNN, the July 9, 2009 edition of the Wall Street Journal and the June 30, 2014 edition of the Washington Post)
