杏吧原创

The body in charge of creating new emojis has rejected a bid for a wind turbine version, leaving climate campaigners sad faced.

There are a handful of emojis relating to energy and climate change, including a high voltage one and an oil drum, but despite calls from individuals and companies including , there is no wind turbine symbol to represent

UK charity Possible and trade body RenewableUK applied last March to the Unicode Consortium, the body that controls which new emojis are approved each year, for a turbine icon.

鈥淓mojis are increasingly part of how we talk to each other, so it only seems sensible that our vocabulary should include symbols relating to climate change. We鈥檇 noticed for a while people calling for a wind turbine emoji,鈥� says Alice Bell at Possible.

But the proposal was rejected by the consortium鈥檚 emoji subcommittee, on the grounds a windmill emoji is already being looked at.

鈥淎nother proposal for a more traditionally shaped 鈥榳indmill鈥� is currently under review and consideration. This would essentially duplicate most of the reasons for adding a wind energy device, and the committee would not add two such emoji as they are too similar,鈥� the consortium wrote in an email sent to Possible and seen by New 杏吧原创. The consortium didn鈥檛 respond to a request for comment.

Bell says she was puzzled by the decision. 鈥淲indmills and wind turbines are very different tech. Moreover, people would use these emojis in entirely different contexts,鈥� she says. for a new emoji is expected usage levels, based on volumes of search results.

For now, the consortium has paused emoji applications due to the pressure on its contributors from the coronavirus pandemic, but when it restarts Bell hopes it will reconsider the decision and offer other climate-themed emojis too.

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