It started as just any other morning for one of Paris’ most iconic tourist attractions, the Louvre. Under a cold, clear bright blue sky the snaking queue of tourists waited patiently to get their glimpse at the world’s most famous painting, the Mona Lisa.
Bali Conference
UN Accuses EU of “Shifting the Goalposts” on Climate
Politicians would not be politicians if they did not wriggle out over promises they have made in the past. Ask them a straight question and you never get a straight answer. If they give a firm commitment, often they renegade on it. So should we really be surprised that the UN’s chief negotiator on climate … Read More
A Big Agenda, but Small Hope
Climate change experts from around the world will get their first chance this week to discuss the nuts and bolts of the new global warming agreement designed to take effect after 2012, that was hammered out in Bali last December. In Bonn, “the real work is now only beginning,” says Yvo de Boer, the United … Read More
Friedman on Bali: “What Was That All About?”
More fall out from Bali, this time as an op-ed in the New York Times. The paper’s foreign affairs columnist, Thomas Friedman, writes: “As readers of this column know, I have a rule that there is a simple way to test whether any Arab-Israeli peace deal is real or not: If you need a Middle … Read More
The Day After….
(Bali, Dec. 16) A day after the dramatic ending of the Bali climate talks, many are wondering if the result was indeed best outcome possible given the circumstances. The US was brought back to the fold, but at the cost of excising from the final document–the so-called Bali Roadmap–any reference to the need for a … Read More
But Its Groundhog Day Again
What a surprise. Same conference, different day, same story, and same villain. Heard it all before? Yes. The US stands accused of trying to derail the Bali talks. Again. With just one day left of the 14-day talks between representatives from more than 180 countries in Bali, it looks increasingly likely that no agreement will … Read More
Reasons to Act 2: Coral Reefs Will Die Before 2050
The majority of the world’s coral reefs are in danger of being killed off by rising levels of greenhouse gases, scientists have warned. Researchers from Britain, the US and Australia, working with teams from the UN and the World Bank, voiced their concerns after a study revealed 98% of the world’s reef habitats are likely … Read More
Reasons to Act 1: Decade Hottest on Record
This decade looks set to be the hottest on record and this year is almost certain to be the seventh warmest worldwide since 1850. Eight years in the past decade are in the world’s ten hottest, according to Met Office statistics released to coincide with Bali conference. In the UK 2007 is expected to be … Read More
The Greenhouse Groundhog Day..
Its the greenhouse Groundhog day, again. How often has America prevented progress over international agreements on climate change? The US is trying to remove a reference to 25-40% cuts in carbon pollution by 2020 for developed countries, which remained in the draft roadmap released by the UN yesterday.
Bali: Hot Air and Hypocrisy ..
Great analysis on the Bali conference from Charles Clover, the environment correspondent from the UK right-wing Telegraph, which we reprint in full: “As an exhibition of hypocrisy, the UN climate change conference in Bali takes some beating. The Indonesian President Yudhoyono is there, playing delegates the video of a song he wrote about saving the … Read More