Barry Coates, of Oxfam NZ, writes in the press about the latest climate talks taking place in COP16, and the elephants in the room (which are, happily, now being discussed).
They include the mistrust and frustration which remains after COP15 in Copenhagen last year, reluctance to sign up to further emission cuts under the Kyoto Protocol, and the fear that the negotiations will never reach completion.
An excerpt: (read in full here)
“Absent from the talks is the climate-science elephant.
“All 192 governments are unanimous that climate change is happening, humans are causing it, and the costs of action are a fraction of the costs of doing nothing. The national science academies of every major country agree, as do the 259 major investment companies who signed a statement last week calling for urgent action – they manage assets of US$20 trillion internationally.
“The final key question is whether governments will commit this week to enough emissions cuts, and fast enough.”