U.S. FIGHTS REARGUARD ACTION AT BALI

The U.S. negotiating team are trying hard to fend off the other developed nations who appear to be content to sign a deal which commits them to reduce CO2 emissions by 25 - 40% by 2020, which excludes "developing" nations like China and India. This report in the Telegraph paints the Americans as the "bad guys", but to me they seem to be the only sane people in this barmy conference. For a start there is a massive difference between 25% and 40%, so by giving such a range, it is obvious that it means no one will go beyond the 25%. If the "science" is giving such a range as being required, then that suggests that the "science" is at least a little vague!

If China and India are exempt, then in effect we are simply exporting our emissions (and our jobs and wealth!) to the east, with little or no reduction in overall CO2. These alarmists cannot have it both ways - either we must drastically reduce CO2 across the whole world or we are simply engaging in some sort of world social engineering project. To me it looks much more like the latter.

Finally, those who have seen the article - doesn't Hilary Benn look ridiculous holding a placard and joining the demonstration, supposedly trying to influence his fellow delegates to sign up. Anything for a photo-opportunity.

And then there's this; Friends of the Earth executive director Tony Juniper said: "The US are behaving like first class passengers on a jumbo jet who believe an emergency in economy class does not affect them". - But if the passengers in economy are the cause of the problem too, then not giving them the same rules is useless.