But let's have a look at some of the highlights of the talks:
- Arnie suggests we have 1 or 2 meat free days a week: The former governor of California, Arnold Swarzenegger put this forward as a serious suggestion during the summit. Many people would label him as a whacko for saying this but he's got a point. Worldwide production of meat is responsible for at least 20% of carbon emissions, so cutting down on our meat intake like this would have a big impact. And with a growing world population likely to drive up the price of meat (Much more than it has already), meat may become an expensive treat for most of us anyway. So you might need to get used to the idea.
- India digs it's heals in: India has a plan to raise millions of it's people out of poverty by going down a similar industrialisation route as China. To do that, it will have to embark on a massive program of building coal-fired power stations (In the hundreds). So, while the rest of the world may be cutting their emissions, India will be growing theirs on scale similar to what China has been doing. Why are they using coal? Because it's cheap and there's lots of it. India have been taking a very hard-line on this, and refuse to be lectured to by developed countries who've used the same trick to build thriving economies themselves. However, they suddenly softened their approach last week, saying they were prepared to replace some coal stations with solar...providing other countries stump up the cash.
- 1.5C instead of 2C?: All this time we've been talking about keeping the rise in global temperatures to under 2C. 'Only' island states were arguing for keeping it under 1.5C. But now 1.5C is gaining traction at the summit amongst more and more delegates. In fact....
- The 'High Ambition Coalition' grows and grows: In possibly the most encouraging development at the conference, well over a hundred nations have joined together (including the African countries, the EU, other europeans, and now the US) with the aim of making the outcome as ambitious as possible: Recognition of the 1.5C target, a well-defined pathway towards a low carbon future, 5 yearly reviews, and a strong package of support for developing countries.
