Not so much, now:
It's been a while since that day.Coming out of the meeting early Friday, delegates said science appeared to have trumped politics - especially opposition from booming China, which wanted language inserted allowing for a greater buildup of greenhouse gases in the environment before action would be taken.
Beijing and its supporters had argued that moves to make deep cuts in carbon dioxide emissions risked stifling its spectacular economic growth, delegates said. But the final report included mention of a stringent emission target mentioned in an earlier draft.
Delegates at the meeting had wrestled over how to share the burden of cutting emissions, how much such measures would cost, and how much weight to give certain policy measures, such as advanced nuclear power, an option supported by the United States.
"This is still an excellent report," French delegate Michel Petit said, adding that China and the other developing countries ended up compromising on all major issues. "Nothing important was removed during the process."
The report follows two studies by the IPCC earlier this year warning that unabated greenhouse gas emissions could drive global temperatures up as much as 11 degrees Fahrenheit by 2100, triggering a surge in ocean levels, destruction of vast numbers of species, economic devastation in tropical zones and mass human migrations.
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Technorati tags: Politics
