Wednesday, March 18, 2009

The sweet smell of retreat

The UN's "climate change chief" is accusing EU politicians of moving the goalposts in global talks on climate change hysteria.

This is Yvo de Boer, secretary of the UN climate programme (UNFCCC). He is calling in the EU agreement at the Bali climate summit last December, when the "colleagues" promised to bankroll clean technology in developing countries if they agreed to take appropriate actions to curb emissions growth.

But now, we are told, EU politicians are asking for more action for their money. They want developing countries to produce plans to cut emissions across their entire economy before getting cash help from the EU.

De Boer complains, "Quite frankly the language from (EU) ministers re-writes some of the fundamental agreements we made in Bali," adding, "I don't think it's constructive to enter into a negotiation by trying to change the fundamental principles on which you've just agreed the negotiation will be based."

Why is he at all surprised? In fact, why is he complaining? Isn't that what they always do?

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