COP17 is under way and showing no signs that any progress towards combating climate change will be made.

On 2nd December the Globe and Mail reported that “some 20 years after countries first identified the need for a treaty to limit man-made emissions of greenhouse gases, [the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change is] still pursuing an agreement that would set the world on a path to achieving the called-for reductions”.  A breakthrough came in Japan at COP3, with the Kyoto Accord, but the failure to ratify by the USA, and foot-dragging by others, notably Canada, have made it ineffective.  Now “no one expects a broad new agreement that would supersede Kyoto to be concluded at Durban. It would be counted a victory if ministers can leave South Africa without the entire UN climate edifice collapsed in ruin”.  What kind of a victory is this?