Was It Really That Bad? Eco-Champion Finds G20 Disappointing.


The headline was shocking. Justin Trudeau was disappointed with the G20 climate posture. Disappointed! The Human Chameleon was disappointed. That will never do.

“There’s no question that Canada and a number of other countries would have liked stronger language and stronger commitments on the fight against climate change than others,” Trudeau said at his closing news conference. “But we did make significant progress on recognizing 1.5 degrees is the ambition we need to share.”

Mr. Trudeau's deputy, Chrystia Freeland, said we need to have "real conversations."

“It’s important for us as a wealthy country to recognize that taking climate action can impose greater costs on some countries than on others, and it’s important for us to recognize that and have real conversations about that. And that is what is happening here, and what I believe will be happening at COP26.”

Sorry Chrystia but we've been having real conversations for a quarter century now, that's why it's COP 26, and all that real talk has brought humanity to the edge of a very dark abyss.  Then again, we could talk ourselves out of larding Canada's energy giants with billions in subsidies every year. That would be a short conversation.  Money? No! Who knows, we might even talk ourselves out of that damned pipeline.

I wish Canada's prime minister was a bit more Churchillian, a bit more Boris Johnsonish.

BoJo invoked the Doomsday Clock, saying humanity is at one minute to midnight. Wow. Justin may have "the sads" but BoJo, he's got fire in his belly. Pretty inspirational stuff. "We'll fight them on the beaches..."  Good stuff.

Then, the man everyone seems programmed to ignore, the United Nations secretary general, Antonio Gutteres, warned it's now or never. "Either we stop it, or it stops us." 

The no-show list of foreign leaders is impressive: China, Russia, Mexico, Turkey, Brazil and the Queen of Coal, South Africa, top the list. India's Modi will put in an appearance. That should be interesting. Maybe Viktor Orban, coal's best buddy in the EU, will also weigh in.

From what the science-types tell us the only thing that really matters is whether the community of nations adopt some means of cutting GHG emissions 50 % by 2030 and the remaining 50 % by 2050. BTW, do you think our Liberal government has agreed to a mandatory 50 by '30? Has Ottawa agreed to any binding commitment? Emphasis on "binding" as in not shirking, sans wiggle room. 










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