Comments
Adapting to the Inevitable: ‘CO2 Reduction Treaties Useless’
A new report says treaties aimed at reducing CO2 emissions are useless.
The Institution of Mechanical Engineers report says we have to accept the world could change dramatically.
It also says we should start planning our major infrastructure now to accommodate more extreme weather events and sea level rises.
While not against attempts to reduce emissions, the report’s authors say we should be realistic about what can be achieved with this approach.
“The existing Kyoto Protocol has, to date, been a near total failure.”
BBC News website: ‘CO2 reduction treaties useless’
Institution of Mechanical Engineers report (pdf): ‘Climate Change: Adaptating to the Inevitable’
February 14th, 2009 at 8:38 pm
If you read the report rather than the BBC’s headline, you’ll not find the word ‘useless’!
February 15th, 2009 at 2:22 am
‘Useless’ is the BBC reporter’s interpretation of the report and comments by the authors such as:
“The existing Kyoto Protocol has, to date, been a near total failure.”
Maybe ‘useless’ is going to far, but something that has been ‘a near total failure’ comes pretty close to ‘useless.’
Do I detect a BBC shift on climate policy – a recognition perhaps that there are better ways to reduce CO2 emissions that set unattainable targets?
Only on 11th February we had this: UK’s CO2 plan ‘certain to fail’
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/7881868.stm
which might have been more accurately represented as ‘unlikely to succeed.’