Somewhat ironically, the UN climate change conference has been overshadowed by the domestic cold snap and more traditional political deal-making as the Liberal Democrats try to save their face over student fees. The whole debacle of the last 24 hours over whether Chris Huhne should fly back for the vote (and then return to Mexico) underscores the sorry situation we are in.
The great shame is that a year ago, as world leaders gathered in Copenhagen, climate change was top of the agenda. More than 50,000 people took part in street protests as part of the Wave; protests that this year have become more concerned with stopping student debt rather than saving the planet.
The reality is that we need a positive outcome from Cancun and further commitments from developed countries to honour the Green Fund championed at the negotiations last year. This fund will help the emerging and developing economies make the transition to a low-carbon economy while bypassing the worst excesses of industrialisation and pollution associated with our own growth.
Lack of progress at the conference, however, is also mirrored by the lack of political focus by the government on the issue. It is hardly surprisingly that a government so ideologically driven to deep cuts and antipathy to regulation has problems selling the concept of binding international action. But where was the high-profile action in the run-up to the negotiations? No wonder no-one noticed the start of the negotiations as ministers quietly jetted off without any public debate or discussion.
Ed Miliband was absolutely right not to pair one of Labour’s MPs with Chris Huhne on this issue simply to help the Liberal Democrats avoid their own blushes. The fact that the government even considered ditching the negotiations to save face on student fees is an indictment in itself, particularly the shallow approach the Liberal Democrats appear to be taking to principles these days. It is testament to green campaigners and the social media that they managed to force an embarrassing climbdown from the government and now only Greg Barker will be jetting back.
But the debacle also highlights a wider issue. Over the last year, the UK has gone from a world leader to a poor second on the international stage when it comes to climate change. The lesson is if we want to make progress in 2011 we need much more resolve from the government and the political action to force ministers to live up to their rhetoric. Thankfully, Mr Huhne decided to turn again this time.
Andrew Pakes is co-chair of SERA, the Labour environment campaign
INDIA PROPOSING LEGALLY BINDING EMISSION CURBS AT CANCUN: What these buggers agree to is what their C.I.A. masters dictate and how many hundreds of millions of dollars bribe the C.I.A. gives them. India cannot “enforce”anything on the U.S. but this will give the U.S. another pretext to invade and subjugate India. Until the per capita emissions of the U.S. come down to India’s level, India should not make any commitments of any kind. India must demand, for example, that SUV’s be banned in the U.S. and India should reserve the right to invade the U.S. to enforce the ban. I am India’s expert in strategic defence and the father of India’s strategic program including the Integrated Guided Missile Development Program. In my blog titled ‘Nuclear Supremacy for India Over U.S.’, which can be found by a Yahoo search with the title, I have shown how India can have the military and economic strength to start doing this to the U.S. immediately, not just in environmental issues but in all areas. This move on the part of the U.S. is meant to throttle India’s economic and military strength. As I have shown in my blog, this will not be allowed and nor will numerous other things these buggers have agreed to which grievously injure India. It will require the nuclear destruction of New Delhi followed by the coast-to-coast destruction of the U.S. by India with 10,000 thermonuclear warheads and extermination of its population. This is the only thing — extermination of the United States’ population by India — whose environmental effects matter. For one thing, it will end all emissions generated now by the U.S. population. This so-called conference takes no account of this all-important factor and is, therefore, worthless. As I have shown in my blog, after British rule, India has been under C.I.A. rule. This government has no legitimacy and no agreements it makes will bind India in any way. This ‘legally-binding’ commitment by India regarding emissions has been pushed by the U.S. in support of the nuclear deal which fatally injures India’s defence and economically loots it in numerous ways; see my blog. The U.S. is saying that if you use coal to generate electricity instead of buying nuclear reactors from us — which, besides looting India, cripple its nuclear weapons program, we will invade you and enforce this. As I have said (see my blog), this requires the nuclear destruction of New Delhi and then the coast-to-coast destruction of the United States by India. This ‘legally-binding commitment’ offer from India was pre-arranged by the United States with Jairam Ramesh and Manmohan Singh (several days before the conference, after I wrote that the combined population of the 28 white countries in NATO, which assert a right to invade and occupy the Indian subcontinent — that is, India — at will, does not equal India’s and India must refrain from touching them or sitting near them or at the same level with them militarily or economically and my blog above shows how India can start doing this immediately, the United States said India can play a very important role at the Cancun conference, that is, propose this ‘legally binding’ commitment as a proxy for the United States because, first and foremost, it cuts India’s own throat and gives the United States a pretext to invade India if it does not accept the slavery of the nuclear deal) but was kept secret even from the Indian delegation to pre-empt any opposition to it in India and spring it as a surprise and a fait accompli. This is treason of the most brazen kind. Satish Chandra