China Opposes 445PPM CO2 Targets, Backed By "Other Unnamed Countries" - IHT

[hatrack]

BANGKOK, Thailand: 445 was the hot number at this week's climate change conference in Bangkok. For China, India and the United States, the number — representing parts per million of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere — came to symbolize a cap on emissions that would hurt their economies.

European countries, in contrast, used the figure as a rallying cry to save the planet. At the current rate, the world is expected to hit 450 ppm within the next three decades, a threshold scientists have warned could lead to the melting of glaciers and subsequent submerging of island nations and much of the U.S. east coast.

"Time is running out," said Olav Hohmeyer, a delegate from Germany which supports tough emission caps. "We have the measures but we have to put the policies in place and act upon them. We have to do it because time is short."

EDIT

European delegates accused China of trying to strip the 445 figure from a report they were negotiating this week for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. They also hinted that other, unnamed countries were backing Beijing's campaign. In the end, the report included language saying that the world must stabilize the amount of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere by 2015 — eight years from now — to keep global temperatures from rising more than 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) over preindustrial levels.

EDIT

http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/05/04/healthscience/AS-SCI-Climate-Change-Conference-Numbers-Game.php

[eppur_se_muova]

1. I feel so ashamed for my unnamed country. nt

:(

[hatrack]

2. Yes, it's one thing to be suicidally/homicidally reckless . .

But to have to be anonymous too - it's just too damned much!