By Jessica Reed
Ministers met yesterday for the Climate change and Energy summit in Mexico to set up a new framework aiming at tackling the environment issues once the Kyoto protocol will expire, while we were reminded that inaction will have a very high cost. Meanwhile the world watches in angst, waiting for politicians and the scientific community to take measures (see yesterday's blog entry).
Things have however evolved in a positive way since the early days of G.W. Bush's presidency: it is the first time the US administration is no longer disputing the science and hard facts of the climate change threat, and officialy recognized the need for action. However symbolic the official recognition is (the USA are one of the signatories of the Kyoto protocol, but did not ratify it yet) we should however expect future fights over the different measures our nations will have to undertake - the most crucial part of the equation.
Elsewhere: We are behind the curve, there is no doubt that we should have acted 10 or 15 years ago - Rick Samans, head of the Davos-based World Economic Forum.
