Wednesday 9th December

On my second day at the Copenhagen conference, negotiations went into pure stalemate. The Plenary had to be suspended, because several developing countries (India and China) opposed the formation of a 'contact group' proposed by Tuvalu, to discuss commitments post-2012. After this, NGO observers found it difficult to access the plenary.

What was really occurring behind the scenes? Those who agree with the principle of “climate justice” would agree that it is completely unfair for developing countries to be forced to take on commitments, whilst developed countries have done virtually nothing themselves. Moreover, they continue to propose weak or non-existent targets. The whole situation seems a mess, unless Obama can get on board and sort it out, fossil-intensive 'laggards' like Canada and Australia will continue to hide behind the US. Then again, it is not really up to Obama, it is up to the Senate...

It will ultimately be up to Senators, like James Inhofe, who famously claimed that climate change is the “greatest hoax ever perpetrated on the American people”. What is immensely ironic about this is that Senators like Inhofe point out that the Kyoto Protocol had little impact on the environment. That is ironically true since the real climate impact of the Kyoto Protocol without US participation was to reduce emissions by ONLY 0.9% according to the CICERO study 2001 (Hagem and Holtsmark). There is also truth in the criticisms of carbon trading which point out the potential for fraud (as the recent 5Bn Euro fraud in the EU demonstrates). This is the real “scam” that is being perpetrated.

The greatest scam may yet be uncovered; I believe it is the promotion of the idea that the economy and environment are 'at odds' with one another, when nothing could be further from the truth. Our economy and prosperity depends entirely on the underlying environmental resources. Moreover, renewable energy and energy efficiency have the potential to increase the well-being of the whole population. Renewable energy technology will pay for itself after a number of years, so when it is mass produced and decentralised, people will have much lower energy bills and be less dependent on the central energy companies. However; fossil-fuel companies appear to be actively discrediting the new technologies & renewable energy, to keep us hooked... (Watch the documentary: 'Who killed the electric car''). Most energy efficiency measures can be made with a fast payback time of 1-2 years. Eventually, business might get around to doing the maths and promoting clean energy, but by then it might be too late.