January, 28 2009, 11:08am EDT
For Immediate Release
Contact:
Phone: (202) 223-4975,Email:,coha@coha.org
Ramming the Matter Home: Peru-U.S. FTA Rushed, Diluted and Finagled
buoyantly rushed to amend labor, health, and environmental requirements
in order to implement the long pending bilateral Free Trade Agreement
(FTA) with the U.S., former President George W. Bush and Peruvian
President Alan Garcia could not afford any further delays.
Barack Obama moved into the White House, it was clear that the Bush and
Garcia Administrations' priority was to declare the FTA in effect
regardless of what had been previously negotiated and amended in the
halls of the Peruvian Congress.
WASHINGTON
buoyantly rushed to amend labor, health, and environmental requirements
in order to implement the long pending bilateral Free Trade Agreement
(FTA) with the U.S., former President George W. Bush and Peruvian
President Alan Garcia could not afford any further delays.
Barack Obama moved into the White House, it was clear that the Bush and
Garcia Administrations' priority was to declare the FTA in effect
regardless of what had been previously negotiated and amended in the
halls of the Peruvian Congress. The U.S.-Peru Trade Promotion Agreement
will go into effect on February 1, 2009 as Bush and Garcia finalized
the implementation of the FTA with their respective signatures on
January 16.
In the final days of Peru's Congressional session, legislators moved
quickly to get the job done before Bush left office. Congress approved
giving the Peruvian government temporary authority by applying Article
105 of Peru's constitution, which allows bills to bypass a committee
and go directly to the floor of Congress. This maneuver permitted Lima
to rapidly bring Peru's regulatory standards in line with the
stipulations of the trade agreement. However, a number of opposition
legislators in Peru as well as House Democrats in the U.S. have argued
that the rash lunge by the Peruvian legislature undermined the quality
of the debate and the legal framework that was being used to establish
labor and environmental protections. Similarly, Bush's widely perceived
hasty signature was met with skepticism and objections from civic
organizations and lawmakers in both countries.
Background
After a long debate that included compromises on both sides of the
aisle, the U.S. Congress approved the FTA with Peru in December 2007.
The passage of the FTA had been delayed in the House and the Senate due
to apprehension, mainly from Congressional Democrats, regarding Peru's
patently deficient environmental and labor protections history. After a
seeming impasse in the process, Congressional Democrats and former U.S.
Trade Representative (USTR) Susan Schwab arranged a
congressional-executive branch agreement that attempted to address the
various concerns. The agreement, named "A New Trade Policy for
America," prohibited Peru from weakening environmental and labor laws
and addressed various other concerns, such as intellectual property
rights and access to generic medicine. The new policy prevented
President Bush from officially authorizing the FTA until there was
compelling evidence that Lima had strengthened laws on trade unions and
the environment, a move immediately endorsed as a "fundamental shift in
U.S. trade policy," which would "spread the benefits of globalization
[in the U.S.] and abroad by raising standards." Although some Democrats
continued to question the likelihood that the new agreement would
actually uphold environmental and labor standards, enough of them were
converted to allow the FTA to pass.
In order to bring Peru's laws into correspondence with "A New Trade
Policy for America," President Garcia enacted the 102 Legislative
Decrees before the first six months of 2008 had passed. The Peruvian
press, policymakers, and activists argued that a number of Garcia's
decrees actually weakened Peru's environmental and labor protections
and were detrimental to the agriculture industry along with indigenous
rights. The Peruvian Constitutional Commission added legitimacy to
these claims by declaring roughly forty percent of the decrees
unconstitutional. COHA has previously noted that a few of these decrees
had been overturned after protests led by indigenous groups and human
rights organizations were registered. However, many contested decrees
regarding intellectual property rights, as well as issues pertaining to
the environment, health, and labor remained outstanding at the official
end of Peru's legislative session in December 2008. Hence, Peru's
Congress agreed to extend their session to Jan. 15 in order to attempt
to quickly resolve what outstanding issues needed to be addressed.
Environmental Issues
On January 13, just two days before the end of Peru's extended
Congressional session, the government pushed through legislation that
dealt with environmental concerns that had been highlighted by U.S.
authorities. According to Doug Palmer of Reuters, one of the
modifications strengthened a law protecting the Amazon rainforest. The
measure modified the Forestry and Wildlife Law by strengthening
restrictions on forestry concessions, but opposition legislators and
environmentalists continued to argue that loopholes were allowed to
remain. They contended that the recently amended law created incentives
for large-scale deforestation of the Amazon. For instance, Roger Najar,
the head of Peru's indigenous caucus, reported to the Associated Press
on January 16: "The new law means 70 percent of the Amazon runs the
risk of deforestation." He said that an earlier decree, signed by
President Garcia in January 2008, had considered sugar cane and bamboo
plantation developments to be in Peru's national interest. As such, the
previously protected forest may be transformed into cane, bamboo, pine
and castor bean commercial plantations, as bio-fuel developments are
advanced as "a matter of national interest." In defense of the new law,
despite its implicit threat to the environment, Antonio Brack, Peru's
environment minister, asserted that the measure was stronger than the
previous bill and that Najar was misinterpreting it.
The amendments to the forestry law also eliminated accountability
mechanisms, and limits public participation in government decisions
concerning the Amazon rainforest. According to Inside U.S. Trade, the
National Forest Policy Consultative Committee was purged as part of the
changes. This committee allowed the public to hold the government
accountable and promoted a dialogue about decisions regarding the
forestry sector. The modifications also make forestry management less
accountable, by eliminating the previously required "Environment Impact
Studies." Forestry management plans may now be approved with less
stringent "Declarations of Environmental Impact."
Intellectual Property Rights
The final week for legislating also included changes to a decree on
intellectual property rights. The amended law strengthened protections
for data concerning pharmaceutical products and granted a minimum
period of five years for the patent protection of new medicines. This
five year monopoly prohibits cheaper generic drugs from entering the
market, and it will restrict many lower and middle income Peruvians
from accessing affordable medicines. This law also applies to
chemicals, such as pesticides, but the restrictions on generic
production increases to a minimum of 10 years. These investor
protections ostensibly are supposed to encourage foreign investment
which will in turn benefit the Peruvian public. Yet, many contend that
they are not in the interest of the average Peruvian, whose autonomous
interests now will have to succumb to the foreign multinational
pharmaceuticals and agribusinesses.
Law 29316, which was adopted on January 14, creates a possibility to
patent genes obtained from Peruvian flora and softens the requirements
for attaining a patent. This measure conflicts with the Andean
Community of Nations' (CAN) intellectual property provisions, which
offer greater protection of indigenous and local resources. This shows
that the Garcia administration is clearly more interested in
international bilateral trade agreements than its regional commitment
to CAN. Likewise, the new law disregards the protection of the
Collective Knowledge of Indigenous Peoples in regards to indigenous
communities' biological resources. As Oxfam America Policy Director,
Gawain Kripke, confirms in an AFL-CIO press release, "Reforms to date
are inadequate and some laws recently enacted in the context of the FTA
undermine the rights of indigenous peoples and farming communities."
Indigenous communities are worried that the measure enacted will
facilitate bio-piracy of their resources by easing the steps for a
person or a private company to patent local resources or knowledge.
Labor Rights
The most disputed and criticized issue of Peru's last minute
FTA-related legislative changes were labor laws. Just two days before
Bush and Garcia declared the FTA into effect, House Ways and Means
Committee Chairman Charles B. Rangel (D-N.Y.) and Trade Subcommittee
Chairman Sander M. Levin (D-Mich.) sent then-USTR Schwab a letter
asserting that Peru had failed to enact laws and regulations to meet
its labor obligations and that Schwab should "resist setting any
artificial deadline" until the labor issue had been fully resolved. The
letter states, "We are particularly concerned that the President may
allow the entry into force of the FTA before Peru has implemented its
obligation (under Article 17.2.1 of the FTA) to adopt and maintain in
its statutes, regulations and practices the fundamental right of
workers to freely associate and collectively bargain." The letter
raises the issue of subcontracting as a means to undermine workers'
ability to form a union. According to it, a law in 2007 ended the
practice of subcontracting, but a 2008 decree opened loopholes allowing
subcontracting "by creating a vague exception that applies whenever
Peru's labor department deems it 'reasonable' to do so."
In response, Schwab sent a letter the next day asserting that "Peru
has put in place the laws and regulations necessary" in order to meet
the conditions of the FTA. But doubts still remain.
Eight labor and environmental organizations, including the AFL-CIO,
Sierra Club, Oxfam America and the World Wildlife Fund, issued a joint
statement calling for a delay to ensure adequate protections. The
letter pointed out that a number of Congressmen and women supported "A
New Trade Policy for America," because it included stronger provisions
promoting labor rights and protecting the environment. They worried
that a rushed process and a hasty certification would undermine the new
policy and secure weaker laws already in place. As Susan Ellsworth, an
Associate Representative with the Sierra Club, claimed, "The U.S.
Congress voted for an FTA that members believed represented a new day
for environmental protection and worker rights in trade agreements.
This is not what is likely to happen if Peru rushes through flawed laws
at the 11th hour. We need sufficient time and a transparent process to
ensure that Peru's laws and regulations fully comply with the letter
and spirit of the agreement," argued Thea Lee, trade policy specialist
at the AFL-CIO. She maintained that Peru's labor laws did not meet the
International Labor Organization's standards. According to Lee, "we are
deeply disappointed with the Bush administration's decision to rush
implementation without first securing compliance with the agreement's
provisions. This represents a wasted opportunity and shows poor faith
on the part of our own government."
Peru's labor organizations also advocated stronger labor reforms.
They had also hoped the new policy would bring change, but, according
to them, they were let down by Peru's Congressional process. The
aforementioned joint statement cites the Unitary Workers Central (CUT)
President Julio Cesar Bazan and the General Confederation of Workers of
Peru (CGTP) President Mario Huaman, "In the face of the Peruvian
government's rush to seek implementation of the FTA before President
Bush leaves office, [CUT] and [CGTP] urge the government to slow down
and protect the rights of working people. The best way to do this would
be to pass a new General Labor Law."
A Change Bush and Garcia Could Have Belief In
Ignoring the input from House Democrats, opposition legislators of
Peru, and social justice organizations in the U.S. and Peru, Garcia and
Bush signed off on January 16 to implement the U.S.-Peru Trade
Promotion Agreement as of February 1, 2009. Republican lawmakers, the
business community and dignitaries of both countries hailed the
agreement. U.S. ambassador to Peru, Michael McKinley said the
implementation of the FTA was a significant "milestone in the excellent
relations" between the U.S. and Peru. Former USTR Schwab issued a
statement asserting, "This is the first free trade agreement in force
that will reflect the enhanced labor and environmental standards set
out in the May 10, 2007, agreement between the Administration and the
congressional leadership." Business groups also endorsed Peru's new
investor-friendly laws.
Peru's Prime Minister, Yehude Simon, quietly acknowledged that the
letter sent by Rangel and Levin was an issue of concern for the
Peruvian government. However, he thought it best to wait on further
analysis of the new laws. As Andina cites Simon, "It is surprising to
hear from [Rangel and Levin] that Peru is not fulfilling all
requirements. Anyway, I'll wait for the ministers' report."
President Alan Garcia declared that the signing of the FTA allowed
Peru to achieve an important "national goal." Garcia was especially
pleased, because he was concerned that if it did not go into effect
during Bush's term it could have been delayed months in the incoming
Obama Administration. Before the agreement was signed, Peru's Foreign
Commerce and Tourism Minister Mercedes Araoz told the Peruvian Congress
that the Obama administration would need time to adjust. She urged,
"[Their] priority will focus on the internal recession more than
finishing a treaty. We could be facing a delay of a year or more." In
turn, this would have delayed a number of outstanding FTA deals Peru is
currently negotiating with Canada, the EU, China and other Asian
countries, as Andina cited Felipe Ortiz de Zevallos, the Peruvian
ambassador in Washington. The latter agreements had the "implied
condition" that the U.S.-Peru Trade Promotion Agreement be implemented.
Thus, the U.S.-Peru Trade Promotion Agreement was Garcia's means to
more bilateral trade deals.
The terms of the agreement expands Peru's duty-free access to the
U.S. that it has enjoyed under the Andean Trade Preference Act (ATPA)
and the Andean Trade Promotion and Drug Eradication Act (ATPDEA), since
their enactment in 1991. In return, 80 percent of U.S. exports of
industrial and consumer products to Peru will be duty-free as of
February 1, 2009 when the agreement enters into force. Thus, Peru will
immediately remove duties on more than two-thirds of U.S. subsidized
farm exports, such as wheat, high quality beef, fruits, vegetables, and
other processed foods. As small and middle-scale Peruvian farmers are
forced to compete with U.S. subsidized agricultural imports, it is
estimated that countless farmers will be forced off their land,
exacerbating problems, such as urban poverty, the drug trade, and
forced migration as was experienced in Mexico after NAFTA was
implemented. Within five years, an additional 7 percent of U.S. exports
will be duty-free, and all remaining tariffs will be dropped within 10
years. The agreement will also open Peru's domestic economy and service
markets to U.S. multinational companies and boost intellectual property
rights protections. The trade agreement with Peru will have been the
14th and final FTA to enter into force under the Bush administration.
Schwab and Garcia's Dirty Tricks
In the end, the FTA was declared into effect without the proper
Peruvian legal institutions in place, even though the members of the
U.S. House Ways and Means Committee and leaders from both the U.S. and
Peru's civil society and non-governmental sectors urged Peru to slow
its Congressional process and enable the debate to play out, in order
to ensure labor and environmental protections within Peru. Peru's
Congress hastily debated and passed a number of modifications to
earlier legislation during the concluding days of their final session
in order to get USTR Susan Schwab's approval before Bush left office.
After Schwab issued the statement of entry into force on January 16,
Rangel and Levin responded in a statement the same day, "We made it
clear to the United States trade representative that these issues
should be resolved prior to certification. Regrettably, they were not,
as the administration has moved to certify the FTA during its last
hours in office." There appears to be a good bit of evidence that "A
New Trade Policy for America" was undermined due to Bush and Garcia's
political goals.
The question now is whether President Obama intends to continue a
similar trade agenda or move a new one forward, to allow the passage of
the Panama and Colombia trade agreements only if important amendments
are made to protect U.S. workers and their Latin American counterparts.
While Obama is powerless to prevent the implementation of the Peru FTA,
his administration can and should urge Peru to make further
improvements to its labor, environmental, and intellectual property
rights laws. The Ways and Means Committee will likely continue pursuing
a dialogue with Lima on the labor issue, and Rangel and Levin "are
confident that the Obama administration will improve enforcement of
trade agreements, including the use of the dispute settlement mechanism
in the Peru and other FTAs." It is doubtful, however, that Peru's labor
and environmental standards are high up on Obama's priority list. The
necessary pressure may have to come from the ground-up in Peru. Last
year, indigenous farmers, labor groups and environmentalists organized
and exhibited their determination to stimulate the political will of
Peruvian legislators to close loopholes and abolish Garcia's
decrees-they are capable of similar actions in the future.
As of February 1, 2009, subsidized U.S. food will flood into Peru's
supermarkets and presumably shift Peru's trade surplus to a trade
deficit. Wal-Mart, well-known throughout the world for its "social
responsibility," is also thinking about colonizing Peru in the near
future, according to Andina. As the new FTA ensures investor
protections for multi-national corporations, more of these corporations
and their industrial model, which marginalizes labor rights and the
environment as mere externalities, are likely to negate any obstacles
to expanding trade at any cost.
This analysis was prepared by COHA Research Associate Will Petrik
Founded in 1975, the Council on Hemispheric Affairs (COHA), a nonprofit, tax-exempt independent research and information organization, was established to promote the common interests of the hemisphere, raise the visibility of regional affairs and increase the importance of the inter-American relationship, as well as encourage the formulation of rational and constructive U.S. policies towards Latin America.
LATEST NEWS
Biden National Security Adviser Among Those Crafting 'Project 2029' Policy Agenda for Democrats
"Jake Sullivan's been a critical decision-maker in every Democratic catastrophe of the last decade," said one observer. "Why is he still in the inner circle?"
Jun 30, 2025
Amid the latest battle over the direction the Democratic Party should move in, a number of strategists and political advisers from across the center-left's ideological spectrum are assembling a committee to determine the policy agenda they hope will be taken up by a Democratic successor to President Donald Trump.
Some of the names on the list of people crafting the agenda—named Project 2029, an echo of the far-right Project 2025 blueprint Trump is currently enacting—left progressives with deepened concerns that party insiders have "learnt nothing" and "forgotten nothing" from the president's electoral victories against centrist Democratic candidates over the past decade, as one economist said.
The project is being assembled by former Democratic speechwriter Andrei Cherny, now co-founder of the policy journal Democracy: A Journal of Ideas, and includes Jake Sullivan, a former national security adviser under the Biden administration; Jim Kessler, founder of the centrist think tank Third Way; and Neera Tanden, president of the Center for American Progress and longtime adviser to former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
Progressives on the advisory board for the project include economist Justin Wolfers and former Roosevelt Institute president Felicia Wong, but antitrust expert Hal Singer said any policy agenda aimed at securing a Democratic victory in the 2028 election "needs way more progressives."
As The New York Times noted in its reporting on Project 2029, the panel is being convened amid extensive infighting regarding how the Democratic Party can win back control of the White House and Congress.
After democratic socialist and state Assemblymember Zohran Mamdani's (D-36) surprise win against former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo last week in New York City's mayoral primary election—following a campaign with a clear-eyed focus on making childcare, rent, public transit, and groceries more affordable—New York City has emerged as a battleground in the fight. Influential Democrats including House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) and Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) have so far refused to endorse him and attacked him for his unequivocal support for Palestinian rights.
Progressives have called on party leaders to back Mamdani, pointing to his popularity with young voters, and accept that his clear message about making life more affordable for working families resonated with Democratic constituents.
But speaking to the Times, Democratic pollster Celinda Lake exemplified how many of the party's strategists have insisted that candidates only need to package their messages to voters differently—not change the messages to match the political priorities of Mamdani and other popular progressives like Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.).
"We didn't lack policies," Lake told the Times of recent national elections. "But we lacked a functioning narrative to communicate those policies."
Sanders and Ocasio-Cortez have drawn crowds of thousands in red districts this year at Sanders' Fighting Oligarchy rallies—another sign, progressives say, that voters are responding to politicians who focus on billionaires' outsized control over the U.S. political system and on economic justice.
Project 2029's inclusion of strategists like Kessler, who declared economic populism "a dead end for Democrats" in 2013, demonstrates "the whole problem [with Democratic leadership] in a nutshell," said Jonathan Cohn of Progressive Mass—as does Sullivan's seat on the advisory board.
As national security adviser to President Joe Biden, Sullivan played a key role in the administration's defense and funding of Israel's assault on Gaza, which international experts and human rights groups have said is a genocide.
"Jake Sullivan's been a critical decision-maker in every Democratic catastrophe of the last decade: Hillary Clinton's 2016 campaign, the withdrawal from Afghanistan, the Israel/Gaza War, and the 2024 Joe Biden campaign," said Nick Field of the Pennsylvania Capital-Star. "Why is he still in the inner circle?"
"Jake Sullivan is shaping domestic policy for the next Democratic administration," he added. "Who is happy with the Biden foreign policy legacy?"
Keep ReadingShow Less
Rick Scott Pushes Amendment to GOP Budget Bill That Could Kick Millions More Off Medicaid
Scott's proposal for more draconian cuts has renewed scrutiny regarding his past as a hospital executive, where he oversaw the "largest government fraud settlement ever," which included stealing from Medicaid.
Jun 30, 2025
Sen. Rick Scott has introduced an amendment to the Republican budget bill that would slash another $313 million from Medicaid and kick off millions more recipients.
The latest analysis by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) found that 17 million people could lose their health insurance by 2034 as the result of the bill as it already exists.
According to a preliminary estimate by the Democrats on the Joint Congressional Economic Committee, that number could balloon up to anywhere from 20 to 29 million if Scott's (R-Fla.) amendment passes.
The amendment will be voted on as part of the Senate's vote-a-rama, which is expected to run deep into Monday night and possibly into Tuesday morning.
"If Sen. Rick Scott's amendment gets put forward, this would be a self-inflicted healthcare crisis," said Tahra Hoops, director of economic analysis at Chamber of Progress.
The existing GOP reconciliation package contains onerous new restrictions, including new work requirements and administrative hurdles, that will make it harder for poor recipients to claim Medicaid benefits.
Scott's amendment targets funding for the program by ending the federal government's 90% cost sharing for recipients who join Medicaid after 2030. Those who enroll after that date would have their medical care reimbursed by the federal government at a lower rate of 50%.
The Affordable Care Act (ACA) introduced the increased rate in 2010 to incentivize states to expand Medicaid, allowing more people to be covered.
Scott has said his program would "grandfather" in those who had already been receiving the 90% reimbursement rate.
However, Medicaid is run through the states, which will have to spend more money to keep covering those who need the program after 2030.
The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities estimated that this provision "would shift an additional $93 billion in federal Medicaid funding to states from 2031 through 2034 on top of the cuts already in the Senate bill."
This will almost certainly result in states having to cut back, by introducing their stricter requirements or paperwork hurdles.
Additionally, nine states have "trigger laws" that are set to end the program immediately if the federal matching rate is reduced: Arizona, Arkansas, Illinois, Indiana, Montana, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Utah, and Virginia.
The Joint Congressional Economic Committee estimated Tuesday that around 2.5 million more people will lose their insurance as a result of those cuts.
If all the states with statutory Medicaid expansion ended it as a result of Scott's cuts, as many as 12.5 million could lose their insurance. Combined with the rest of the bill, that's potentially 29 million people losing health insurance coverage, the committee said.
A chart shows how many people are estimated to lose healthcare coverage with each possible version of the GOP bill.(Chart: Congressional Joint Economic Committee Democrats)
There are enough Republicans in the Senate to pass the bill with Scott's amendment. However, they can afford no more than three defections. According to Politico, Sens. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) and Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) have signaled they will vote against the amendment.
Sen. Jim Justice (R-W.V.) also said he'd "have a hard time" voting yes on the bill if Scott's amendment passed. His state of West Virginia has the second-highest rate of people using federal medical assistance of any state in the country, behind only Mississippi.
Critics have called out Scott for lying to justify this line of cuts. In a recent Fox News appearance, Scott claimed that his new restrictions were necessary to stop Democrats who want to "give illegal aliens Medicaid benefits," even though they are not eligible for the program.
Scott's proposal has also brought renewed scrutiny to his past as a healthcare executive.
"Ironically enough, some of the claims against Scott's old hospital company revolved around exploiting Medicaid, and billing for services that patients didn't need," wrote Andrew Perez in Rolling Stone Monday.
In 2000, Scott's hospital company, HCA, was forced to pay $840 million in fines, penalties, and damages to resolve claims of unlawful billing practices in what was called the "largest government fraud settlement ever." Among the charges were that during Scott's tenure, the company overbilled Medicare and Medicaid by pretending patients were sicker than they actually were.
The company entered an additional settlement in 2003, paying out another $631 million to compensate for the money stolen from these and other government programs.
Scott himself was never criminally charged, but resigned in 1997 as the Department of Justice began to probe his company's activities. Despite the scandal, Scott not only became a U.S. senator, but is the wealthiest man in Congress, with a net worth of more than half a billion dollars.
The irony of this was not lost on Perez, who wrote: "A few decades later, Scott is now trying to extract a huge amount of money from state Medicaid funds to help finance Trump's latest round of tax cuts for the rich."
Keep ReadingShow Less
As Historic Heatwave Grips Europe, Coalition Says 'No to a Climate Law for Polluters'
"Will the European Commission propose a climate law that ends fossil fuel use and reflects the E.U.'s fair share of climate responsibility? Or will it choose political convenience?"
Jun 30, 2025
As yet another dangerous heatwave pushes temperatures well into the triple digits across much of Europe, climate defenders on Monday renewed calls for stronger action to combat the planetary emergency—including by ensuring that the impending European Climate Law ends fossil fuel use and eschews false solutions including international carbon offsetting.
Croatia, France, Italy, Portugal, and Spain are among the countries where near- or record-high temperatures have been recorded. Portugal and Spain both recorded their hottest-ever June days over the weekend. El Granado in southwestern Spain saw the mercury soar to nearly 115°C (46°C) on Saturday. The heatwave is expected to continue into the middle of the week, with authorities warning of elevated wildfire risk and potential severe health impacts.
"Extreme heat is no longer a rare event—it has become the new normal," United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres said Sunday on social media. "I'm experiencing it firsthand in Spain during the Financing for Development Conference. The planet is getting hotter and more dangerous—no country is immune. We need more ambitious #ClimateAction now."
On Monday, Real Zero Europe—"a campaign calling on the European Union to deliver real emissions reductions and real solutions to the climate crisis, instead of corporate greenwashed 'net zero' targets"—published a call for an E.U. Climate Law that does not contain provisions for international carbon offsetting, in which countries or corporations compensate for their greenhouse gas emissions by funding projects that reduce emissions in other nations.
🔴 OUT NOW📢 69 NGOs call on the EU to deliver a Climate Law that rejects international carbon offsetting & Carbon Dioxide Removals (#CDR), commits to a full fossil fuel phase-out, and reflects Europe’s fair share of climate responsibility!Read the statement👇www.realzeroeurope.org/resources/st...
[image or embed]
— Real Zero Europe (@realzeroeurope.bsky.social) June 30, 2025 at 2:40 AM
A draft proposal of the legislation published Monday by Politico revealed that the European Commission will allow E.U. member states to outsource climate efforts to Global South nations staring in 2036, despite opposition from the 27-nation bloc's independent scientific advisory board. The outsourcing will enable the E.U. to fund emissions-reducing projects in developing nations and apply those reductions to Europe's own 2040 target—which is a 90% net decrease in greenhouse gas emissions from 1990 levels.
The proposal also embraces carbon dioxide removal (CDR) technologies like carbon capture and storage, whose scalability is unproven. Climate groups call them false solutions that prolong the fossil fuel era.
"E.U. climate policy stands at a crossroads: Will the European Commission propose a climate law that ends fossil fuel use and reflects the E.U.'s fair share of climate responsibility?" the Real Zero Europe letter says. "Or will it choose political convenience—abandoning that goal under pressure from corporate and populist interests, and turning to risky, unjust carbon offsetting and other false solutions?"
"Taking responsibility for the E.U.'s past and present role in causing the climate crisis means doubling down on a just and full fossil fuel phaseout not hiding behind false solutions as currently proposed," the letter continues. "The law as planned will send a dangerous signal far beyond E.U. borders. The climate and biodiversity crises are already harming people, especially vulnerable communities and populations largely in the Global South, who have least contributed to the climate crisis."
The 69 groups stress that international carbon offsetting "is a smokescreen for giving license to fossil fuel use beyond 2050" that diverts critical resources and public funds from real climate solutions and climate finance."
"Given the scale of climate catastrophe, for the E.U. to allow international offsets and technological CDR gives a lifeline to polluting industries such as the fossil fuel, agribusiness, plastics, and petrochemical industries," the letter states.
"We say no to an E.U. Climate Law that puts polluting industries over people and climate by embracing the use of international offsets and CDR approaches," the letter's signers said. "We call on the Commission to deliver an E.U. Climate Law and its Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) to the U.N. climate negotiations that clearly reflects the bloc's responsibility for the climate crisis. That means a full fossil fuel phaseout and a just transition."
This heatwave is brutal. Temperatures above 40°C in June across France, Spain, Italy...We still hear from right-wing politicians that “it’s just summer.” It’s not. This is the climate crisis courtesy of the fossil fuels industry. It’s not normal.
[image or embed]
— European Greens (@europeangreens.eu) June 30, 2025 at 7:01 AM
U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk also addressed the European heatwave on Monday, saying that "the climate crisis is a human rights crisis."
"Rising temperatures, rising seas, floods, droughts, and wildfires threaten our rights to life, to health, to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment, and much more," he continued. "The heatwave we are currently experiencing here shows us the importance of adaptation measures, without which human rights would be severely impacted."
"It is equally clear that our current production and consumption patterns are unsustainable, and that renewables are the energy source of the future," Türk asserted. "Production capacity for renewables increased five-fold between 2011 and 2023. What we need now is a roadmap that shows us how to rethink our societies, economies and politics in ways that are equitable and sustainable. That is, a just transition."
"This shift requires an end to the production and use of fossil fuels and other environmentally destructive activities across all sectors—from energy to farming to finance to construction and beyond," he added. "This will be one of the greatest transformations our world has ever seen."
Keep ReadingShow Less
Most Popular