So finally the US capitulates and agrees to be part of talks in 2 years time that will look to make deep cuts in global emissions. Yet the reality, as reported here, is that not much has changed. The US still won’t budge on developing nations (read China and India) and still won’t provide any meaningful targets. It’s interesting that without Australia alongside they are looking very much alone on this issue.

Arguing over who is responsible and who must cut what is really a waste of time. It’s not an argument that can be won by either side. The simple question to be asked is whether global emission levels need to be reduced. If so then they need to be reduced through a global mechanism such as I have proposed in Climate Control where emissions will be reduced by virtue of a quota agreed at the point of extraction not use.

Otherwise we might as well stop wasting our time and focus on adapting and developing cheaper supplies of energy.

Today the IPCC released its synthesis report bringing together the work of the past few years. It’s clearly worse than expected suggesting that at current levels warming could be up to 6 degrees by 2030 which is above the 1-4 degrees by 2100 as previously predicted.

As reported it paints a grimmer picture using recent data and stresses the need for immediate action. Coming just before the Bali Conference on 4th December it’s a clear statement as to the direction the UN will be looking to take.

At the same time there are those who continue to decry these types of reports as another installment of fiction along the lines of the Da Vinci code.

So where are we left?

The costs of inaction are difficult to summarise regardless of serious estimation like the Stern Report. After all economics is hardly a science well known for its predictive ability.

Ignoring those who say climate change and global warming are a sham (and they should always be part of the debate), what is the best way to approach this?

Adaptation or restraint? How about Both/And? Why does it have to be one or the other. We need to keep refining our energy systems and the one we have now is incredibly inefficient, controlled by cosy cartels and unreliable nation states.

Climate change provides an opportunity to address the environmental impacts off our consumption processes as well as the way in which we access and generate energy.

Why argue the toss? Just do both and somewhere the right equilibrium will be achieved.