Source: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/main.jhtml?xml=/earth/2007/12/16/eaclimate316.xml
America refused to ratify Kyoto because it didn’t include the “developing countries” such as China, still building a new coal-fired power station every four days and about to overtake the US as the world’s leading CO2 emitter. China and India say they cannot be expected to cut their emissions until they have caught up economically with the already industrialised nations which caused all that rise in CO2 in the first place. the European Union likes to claim that it is “leading the world on climate change”, while Germany builds 26 new coal-fired power stations, Britain plans to double its number of air passengers and the EU’s emissions continue to rise (just when America’s last year actually fell).
Thus Bali ends in a wonderfully meaningless compromise, whereby everyone, including America, agrees that they want their carbon-free pie-in-the-sky, so long as they don’t yet have to sign up to actual figures and mandatory targets. the only people really rejoicing in Bali were all those beady-eyed businessmen who have sussed out that the “carbon trading schemes” set up under Kyoto are turning into the most colossal commercial racket of our day. As for the armadas of politicians and officials, as the man from the EU said, they can look forward to “many meetings, many discussions, many people passing many hours doing things”, lasting from here to the crack of doom (which incidentally may never arrive, because, though CO2 levels are still rising, global temperatures are not – a fact mentioned in Bali by precisely no one).
Hat Tip: Jerry Pournelle
