"Don't choose extinction," says dinosaur to world leaders ·UN Info

"at least we had an asteroid," the creature warns, referring to the popular theory explaining the extinction of dinosaurs 70 million years ago. "what's your excuse?"

This is not a slice of real life, of course, but the key computer-generated scene of a new short film released by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), as part of its "Don't choose extinction" campaign.

The dinosaur then told the audience of stunned diplomats that "it is time for humans to stop making excuses and start making changes" to deal with the climate crisis.

This is the first ever film made in the General Assembly Hall using computer-generated images. It includes world celebrities lending their voice to the dinosaur in many languages, including actors Eiza González (Spanish), Nikolaj Coster-Waldau (Danish), and Aïssa Maiga (French).

$423 billion per year in fossil fuel subsidies

A published UNDP study shows that the world spends $423 billion a year on fossil fuel subsidies alone, enough to cover Covid-19 vaccination for every person in the world or three times the annual amount needed to eradicate extreme global poverty.

"think about all the other things you could do with this money. People all over the world live in poverty. Don't you think it would be more logical to help them than to … Pay for the disappearance of all your species? "said the dinosaur.

Ineffective and unfair aid

Fossil fuel subsidies are both ineffective and unfair. In developing countries, about half of the public resources allocated to fossil fuel consumption go to the richest 20 per cent of the population, according to the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

"the issue of fossil fuel subsidies is a politically sensitive issue, but the evidence shows that reform is not only necessary, but also that it could benefit the poorest, create jobs and protect the planet, if properly implemented," said George Gray Molina, Chief Economist of the UNDP Office of Policy and Programme Support and co-author of the study.

The main cause of the climate emergency is the energy sector, which accounts for 73 per cent of anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions. Reforming fossil fuel subsidies would help to reduce CO2 emissions and would benefit people's health and well-being. It is a first step towards fair energy pricing, reflecting the "real" and complete cost of fossil fuel use to society and the environment.

However, UNDP analysis shows that reforming fossil fuel subsidies can also be unfair and detrimental to households and society if misconceived. While fossil fuel subsidies tend to be an unequal tool-the benefits accrue mainly to the rich-these subsidies also represent a significant part of the income of poor people who would otherwise have to spend on energy consumption.

The removal of fossil fuel subsidies could therefore easily become a factor of monetary and energy impoverishment. This contributes to the complexity of fossil fuel reform and is a major obstacle to the transition to clean and renewable energy sources.

In this context, the UNDP study calls for a gradual and gradual response to the reforms. It includes an analysis of success stories from several countries in different regions and proposes a "toolkit" for policymakers to facilitate fossil fuel subsidy and energy price reforms. This toolkit allows for a progressive, fair and equitable approach, which includes income protection and compensation mechanisms for the least favoured groups.