We are psychic, if we do say so ourselves. As leaders from 158 countries gathered this week at a U.N.-convened meeting to discuss post-Kyoto Protocol climate targets, we claimed doubt that anything of substance would come out of it. And voila! Deadlock and vagueness abounded. The E.U. and developing nations pushed for an indication that industrialized countries should be guided by a goal of reducing emissions 25 to 40 percent of 1990 levels by 2020; countries including Canada, Japan, and Russia opposed such approaching-strong language, and the final version of negotiations stated that such numbers provide “useful initial parameters for the overall level of ambition of further emissions reductions.” Also, it was generally agreed that emissions should be reduced to “very low levels.” Nations will come together again in December in Indonesia to try to hammer out an actual post-Kyoto agreement; the U.S., not having ratified the Kyoto Protocol, was not invited to either party.
