For all the claims by some diplomats about important steps forward and new concessions, the total inadequacy of the UN climate change negotiations are there for all to see in the continuing rise in carbon emissions, with many climate scientists now of the opinion that any chance to keep the global temperature rise to within 2°C has now vanished, and the terrifying prospect of a 4 or 6°C rise is now being actively contemplated.
The craven surrender to bullying self-interest reminds me of the infamous 1938 Munich agreement between Hitler and the Allied Powers that handed over half of Czechoslovakia to the Nazis. Neville Chamberlain’s then claim of delivering “Peace for our time” has been utterly ridiculed ever since. The UNFCCC train crash seems destined for the same fate. Whatever their constraints, history will not judge this generation of leaders kindly. We can but hope for some Churchillian heroes who can help humanity turn this mess around before it kills many more people than Hitler ever did.
