It is a pity that Australia has just legislated a tax on carbon when the analysis from Europe is that the ETS has achieved almost nothing. And it shows that if the money had been spent on direct action there would have been far greater reductions.

As for Durban, without binding targets, the conference will be an abject failure and put the entire global action plan back to before Kyoto. Unless there is substantial agreement in Durban, Australia's tax will be a "go it alone" plan with the sole achievement of shifting emissions intensive jobs overseas with zero net emission reduction.

The current decline in CO2 omissions is of course largely due to economic recession. Countries still in growth, like India and China, have shown enormous increases in their emissions. It follows, then, that the best way to reduce CO2 emissions is to induce a huge global depression, throw millions of people out of work, and reduce health, life expectancy and living standards back to what they were in the good old days of 1850 or so.

Hopefully most people are wise enough to see that crippling the global economy is not in their interests, or their children's, or their grandchildren's. Particularly when the Climategate II emails are revealing still more of the dirty politics and deception behind what The Team like to refer to as The Cause.

Heather
No one expects the Durban conference to achieve anything at all.. as for the deadline of achieving a system of limiting emissions within five years, then we are going to miss that deadline by a century or two.. it just isn't going to happen.

If you seriously believe in the science then start supporting measures for adapation.

Bravo Heather Bruer! Keep up the good work in Durban!

The going at the moment is going to be somewhat subdued, seeing two thirds of the world is broke. But there is nothing to stop AU surging ahead with reductions. The more coal and oil we eliminate, can only be an advantage, Toni was at a dry cleaners yesterday, saying how much the carbon tax is going to cost them. On other days he says the costs will be passed on. Why the inconsistency. Makes you wonder where his costings are coming from.

'A safe climate future has yet to be secured for young people, but Australia can now play a far more constructive role towards it's nonnegotiable end in Durban. '

This article demonstrates the arrogance and naiveity of people who think they can control the weather.