Climate Talks the New 'Business as Usual' ?

During the first couple of thousand days of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change there may have been a few dreamers. But now, in 2009, 6000 days after the Rio Earth Summit where this whole process began, the UNFCCC has become positively hostile to hope. You see, dreamers like to imagine a better world and a world of possibilities. The UNFCCC was setup to achieve a dreamt of world where Business as Usuall emissions growth had been avoided, where nations had clubbed together and fought climate change, each according to his abilities and been supported, each according to his needs. Unlike most dreams this was a vision unavoidably teathered to the real world through the basic laws of physics and through time.

It was clear that changing the direction of a massive global economy was going to require huge political effort; overcoming the inertia of global vested interests was to be our struggle. Seventeen years after we started emissions have continued to rise, the new business as usual cant be attributed to economic intransigence, dreamers have to look closer to home. The UNFCCC is looking less and less like a hare guiding the greyhounds of industry down the low carbon transition track, and more like an enchanted caravan careering around devon lanes causing much interest amongst everyone other than industry who are charting their own course.

Home del.icio.us Digg This!