The Bali "Road Map" On Climate Change

10 000 delegates get together from more than 180 countries to hammer out an international agreement on what should follow the Kyoto protocol.

What happened?

1) Countries did not set in place any commitments.

2) A fund was agreed for poor countries, but no figure was mentioned.

3) The EU was blocked by the US, Canada and Japan over a committment to reduce emissions (below 1990 levels) by 25 to 40% by 2020.

4) There will be a 2008 meeting in Posnan (Poland) and at the end of 2009 (Copenhagen).

So, more meetings. Wheee.

In response to all these non-commitment climb-downs by the EU, the White House decides to make everything perfectly clear:

Negotiations must proceed on the view that the problem of climate change cannot be adequately addressed through commitments for emissions cuts by developed countries alone ... The United States believes that any arrangement must also take into account the legitimate right of the major developing economies and indeed all countries to grow their economies, develop on a sustainable basis, and have access to secure energy sources.

As Tony Juniper, of Friends of the Earth, has said:

It is like a red rag to a bull to suggest on the floor of the UN that developing countries should sign up to commitments similar to those held by the richer ones. The US has contributed far more CO2 emissions than any other country at the talks and its representatives knew that what it was proposing was completely unacceptable.