Saturday 4th of September 2010
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merry christmas, mr...

merry christmas, mr...
E.U. Blames Others for ‘Great Failure’ on Climate

By JAMES KANTER

BRUSSELS — European Union leaders on Tuesday sought to deflect criticism that they had fumbled their strategy at the Copenhagen climate summit meeting, just as a feud between the British and the Chinese over whom to blame for the outcome worsened.

Andreas Carlgren, the environment minister of Sweden, the country holding the rotating E.U. presidency, said that the summit meeting had been a “great failure” partly because other nations had rejected targets and a timetable for the rest of the world to sign on to binding emissions reductions.

The E.U. went into the conference with a strategy of leading by example on emissions cuts, but has been widely criticized by industry and environmental groups for not marshalling other nations to follow and for ending up sidelined at the summit meeting.

“It was obvious that the United States and China didn’t want more than we achieved at Copenhagen,” Mr. Carlgren said at a news conference in Brussels.

The obstacles created by those countries were “part of what we regretted,” he said.

Meanwhile, an official in Beijing shot back at criticism by a senior British official that China and a handful of other countries at Copenhagen had thrown up insurmountable barriers to a more far-reaching accord.

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Other reports claim that China and India colluded to defeat the binding agreements...

eight reasons why...

from the BBC

About 45,000 travelled to the UN climate summit in Copenhagen - the vast majority convinced of the need for a new global agreement on climate change.

So why did the summit end without one, just an acknowledgement of a deal struck by five nations, led by the US.

And why did delegates leave the Danish capital without agreement that something significantly stronger should emerge next year?

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inevitable mutual recriminations

Copenhagen was a disaster. That much is agreed. But the truth about what actually happened is in danger of being lost amid the spin and inevitable mutual recriminations. The truth is this: China wrecked the talks, intentionally humiliated Barack Obama, and insisted on an awful "deal" so western leaders would walk away carrying the blame. How do I know this? Because I was in the room and saw it happen.

China's strategy was simple: block the open negotiations for two weeks, and then ensure that the closed-door deal made it look as if the west had failed the world's poor once again. And sure enough, the aid agencies, civil society movements and environmental groups all took the bait. The failure was "the inevitable result of rich countries refusing adequately and fairly to shoulder their overwhelming responsibility", said Christian Aid. "Rich countries have bullied developing nations," fumed Friends of the Earth International.

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see Xmas card at top...