News Corp papers in Australia are reporting today that
AUSTRALIA has joined the US, China, India and South Korea in a secret regional pact on greenhouse emissions to replace the controversial Kyoto climate protocol.
The alliance, which is yet to be announced, will bring together nations that together account for more than 40 per cent of the world's greenhouse gas emissions.
more below ....
The article continues
To be known as the Asia-Pacific Partnership for Clean Development and Climate, the grouping will aim to use the latest technologies to limit emissions and to make sure the technologies are available in the areas and industries that need them most.
source: http://www.news.com.au/story/0,10117,16060814-2,00.html
On the face of it this looks like overall good news. Personally I thought Kyoto was a flawed start, but a flawed start is better than no start at all. The G8 Summit, increasing pressure from business, and string after string of Florida hurricanes seemed to have finally driven GW and friends to accept that maybe there's something to this climate change thing!
And yes, I'm aware the hurricanes might just be a normal fluctuation, but more extremes in weather are precisely what climate change models predict, and those who know more than me indicate that everything is happening much faster than was predicted. Today's news is possibly too little too late, but at least the collective heads are perhaps out of the sand - or whichever dark place it was they were stuck.