Global broadcast series calls on action against fossil fuel subsidies

World governments are spending $11 million dollars on subsidizing fossil fuel. That’s under $6 trillion a year, according to calculations by the International Monetary Fund, IMF. The governments spending these staggering amounts of public funds, are the same governments that have made commitments under the Paris Climate Agreement to decarbonize their economies and collectively achieve a net zero emission world by 2050.

How can this be? Who benefits from these subsidies? And what effect do they have on our societies, today and tomorrow?

In the run-up to COP26 in Glasgow, the United Nations Development Program, UNDP, launched the #DontChooseExtinction campaign, featuring Frankie the dinosaur. It is UNDPs most successful campaign ever and has reached 1,5 billion on social media. It also helped bringing fossil fuel subsidies up on the agenda during the climate conference.

Now, these organisations are taking the next step with the Dino Talks.

Dino Talks is a whole new broadcast series co-created by UNDP and We Don’t Have Time, and supported by the circular tech company Prime Computer. In ten episodes, Dino Talks will bring in experts to help dig deeper into the fossil fuel subsidies and how they accelerate everything from extreme weather events to deadly health problems, while also slowing down innovation and sustainable development.

Boaz Paldi is the United Nations Development Programme’s Global Partnership & Campaigns Manager, and a key force behind the #DontChooseExtinction campaign.

”With the Don’t Choose Extinction campaign we sparked a global conversation around the issue of fossil fuel subsidies. The partnership with We Don’t Have Time was pivotal in reaching citizens across the globe. Dino Talks is the natural evolution of the excellent partnership and will allow our audience a deep dive into this very critical issue.” he says.

Ingmar Rentzhog, founder and CEO of We Don’t Have Time, says ”The fossil-fuel subsidies have managed to stay under the radar for decades. Last year’s amazing UNDP campaign was a wake-up call, and we are extremely proud to extend our partnership with UNDP by taking the next step in spreading awareness about this destructive spending of public funds. We aim high and expect to reach millions of viewers globally.”

The first three episodes of Dino Talks will be co-hosted by Boaz Paldi and Nick Nuttall, one of the world’s leading experts in environmental communication. A former Director of Communications and Spokesperson for the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), Nick Nuttall has led the communications team at the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, and was the UN spokesperson for the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement. He is now Director of Global Communications at We Don’t Have Time.

Lourdes Antenor

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Lourdes Antenor is an experienced writer who specialises in the not-for-profit sector and its affiliations. She is the content producer for Third Sector News, an online knowledge-based platform for and about the Australian NFP sector.

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