Uganda’s President Museveni slams ‘Western double standards’ over Germany coal mine plans
Uganda’s President Museveni in New York City on Friday criticized the West for hypocrisy over the future of the country’s main export, coal.
“This hypocrisy about the future of coal exports is ridiculous. People will tell you that the world doesn’t have enough of it, some people will tell you the world doesn’t need as much of it as Africa does, and others will tell you that our countries cannot compete with the Chinese, let alone the world,” Museveni told a crowd in the city’s Carnegie Hall.
His remarks came with Germany’s top court clearing the country of violating its obligations under the Paris climate-change accord.
“Germany is being given the opportunity to prove to the international community — and to Germany itself — just how serious they are about being able to do what they say they are going to do,” Museveni said.
The United Nations climate-change chief, Patricia Espinosa, wrote to German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Thursday saying the country “must now follow through on its legally binding commitments to reduce emissions.”
The letter, signed by Espinosa, said the court decision “was made after extensive consultation among the climate-related commitments which Germany undertook when joining the Paris Agreement,” and noted the country’s commitments will remain unchanged.
The Paris climate protocol, signed by the world’s most industrialized nations in 2015, will require the countries to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions to net zero by 2050.
The decision by judges from Germany’s Federal Constitutional Court came a day after Germany’s top court ruled that its plans to create a so-called “green investment fund” to support renewable energies, including solar and wind, are legally justified.
Merkel had appealed the court ruling on the investment fund, saying she was concerned the plan could be used as “a Trojan horse for a national climate-change goal that is incompatible with the European Union’s target of a total greenhouse-gas reduction of at least 40 percent by 2050.”
The fund, Merkel’s government said, would help finance renewable energy projects that have “tremendous potential” to create jobs and strengthen Germany’s economy.
“I am convinced that a proper environmental and social balance can only be reached with a large contribution from the private and public sectors and without having to resort to such measures,”