| By Clem Guttata
I find it really hard to follow what's going on in Copenhagen at COP15, but I know enough to tell this is the big story of the day - Developing nations walk out of climate talks.
The G77, a group which represents 130 developing countries, walked out because it is concerned the existing Kyoto protocol will be abandoned.
Australia's Climate Change Minister Penny Wong confirmed that organisers were trying to fix the problem and coax back the developing world.
Many countries at the UN climate summit want a brand new treaty to tackle climate change, but the developing world wants the Kyoto protocol to continue as well.
The protocol forces rich countries to reduce or limit their greenhouse gas emissions.
::
It is understood developing countries walked out of the working groups at the summit today, and have refused to take part in special meetings which have been organised to tackle the biggest obstacles in the negotiations.
A plenary session, for all countries, has not started as planned because of the breakdown.
::
"An extension only of the Kyoto Protocol is not going to achieve the environmental outcome the world needs,'' Senator Wong said.
Australia does not want the Kyoto Protocol to be the only vehicle to tackle climate change because it does not include the US, nor major developing countries like China and India.
Update: More details available from TreeHugger, too.
The other major issue on the table right now is finances. The US still spends more than $10 billion per year of taxpayer money on subsidies to fossil fuel companies. One of the big issues the G77 countries have is many developing countries cannot afford to green their economies without financial help.
We're not talking about the more developed countries like China or India--they're already committing billions to their efforts. These are the poorer countries in Africa and other parts of the world.
One of the reasons why global climate change represents a major national security threat to the United States is because the civil unrest and failed governments that follow dramatic climate changes in developing countries.
Surely a country as great as America is resourceful enough to help the poorest countries in the world make a move to sustainable energy development, too. That would be a far wiser investment than hand outs to the most profitable corporations in the world. |
