Well, the talks are going to wrap up either late tonight or early tomorrow morning and the news is, well, almost no news. No real progress, and no real step forward. The climate package Europe announced today is inadequate, and so full of loopholes and half measures that it will need to be redone if an agreement is ever made that asks for the cuts science demands. Meanwhile a low grade wrecking effort by Japan, Australia, Canada and New Zealand - egged on by a lame duck Bush administration prevented any real progress, despite attempts by developing countries to make progress.
In a lot of ways it's that last point that's the worst. Mexico offered to achieve emission reductions of 50% by 2050, the same level that developed countries were refusing to meet a year ago in Bali. Brazil put forward a plan to cut deforestation by 70% if the developed world could pay for it. There is a growing sense that the developing world is prepared to move if it's given the right leadership. This could have been part of a good news story if countries like Germany had played their part, rather than retreating into protectionism.
I don't always agree with George Monbiot, but he's called this one right.
I suppose the best we can say is that Obama won the election. Had McCain won we could write off any hope of preventing runaway climate change. Now though it will take a major diplomatic push to get things back on track. Six months ago we might have thought we could have a duel axis, with Europe and the USA leading the world forward. Instead Obama's first challenge will be to turn Europe back into a positive player, overcoming the objections of states like Poland and Italy.
More updates, and an explanation of why the decision to treat forests as nothing more than a collection of trees at http://weblog.greenpeace.org/...