The temperature is rising in Denmark!
The Copenhagen climate talks blew up yesterday as a secret document emerged that would allow the United States to dictate terms to the United Nations and poor countries about how to reduce greenhouse gases.
The so-called “Danish text” enraged environmentalists, as well as officials from developing countries.
The 13-page proposal calls for ditching the principles of the Kyoto protocol, which basically called for the world’s most prosperous countries to cut carbon-dioxide emissions, not smaller countries.
But under the plan prepared by the host country, Denmark, the United States and Britain and other wealthier countries would be permitted to spew more CO2 per capita than developing countries.
“The Obama administration’s role in what appears to be a secret plot to strong-arm through an agreement forcing poor countries to bear much of the cost of reducing emissions is despicable,” Friends of the Earth said.
Under the plan, the World Bank, rather than the United Nations, would handle climate-change financing to developing countries.
Also on day two, the UN weather agency reported that the current decade is on track to become the warmest since record-keeping began in 1850.
“The Earth is always warming and cooling. We happen to be in a warming phase right now,” said Princeton physics professor William Happer, a former top official of the US Energy Department who oversaw climate-change research.
“We should go for the truth instead of supporting some kind of political agenda, which is going on right now.”