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A Weblog monitoring coverage of environmental issues and science in the UK media. By Professor Emeritus Philip Stott. The aim is to assess whether a subject is being fairly covered by press, radio, and television. Above all, the Weblog will focus on science, but not just on poor science. It will also bring to public notice good science that is being ignored because it may be politically inconvenient.

Friday, December 17, 2004

The 'plate tectonics' of climate change.....

Reading the runes at the Buenos Aires climate-change chinwag, it looks like Italy is starting to slide away from the EU position on Kyoto (see: 'Italy calls to end Kyoto limits', Reuters UK, December 17), while America is now moving towards China and India to establish a new block with quite a different approach to the issue. This is a good thing politically. Such a block could no doubt include Australia, among others. Kyoto is now effectively buried (see: 'Buenos Aires: Kyoto's Waterloo' and 'The Kyoto Protocol is dead', both TCS, December 17).

The geopolitics of these seismic shifts is fascinating and something new for Blair and for the self-righteous, but highly hypocritical, EU block. Italy and China could both be heavily punished by any 'child of Kyoto', so they may be easily tempted by a more sensible political approach, especially one that focuses on maintaining strong, adaptive economies. Moreover, New Zealand and Japan are doing so badly by Kyoto that it is not impossible that they (and Canada) might be wooed by a more pragmatic approach post 2012. In Europe, Spain could follow Italy's lead very soon.

The 'plate tectonics' of climate change, as I like to call it, are going to be ever so fascinating in the coming years. Watch this space! There will be rift valleys all round.

Philip, hoping for seismic shifts against the hypocritical European hype. Coffee.

[New counter, June 19, 2006, with loss of some data]


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