Viewpoint

摘要

This week, 192 nations of the world will converge on Copenhagen for a meeting (COP 15) that has been billed as the 11th-hour opportunity to agree a replacement to the Kyoto Protocol and avert climate change. Sadly, the current outlook for a forward-thinking, binding and effective global agreement is not looking good. Climate change is one of the biggest challenges facing our globalised and interdependent society but, despite continuous calls from scientists for decisive action, the world continues to pollute the air with greenhouse gases. Indeed, the atmospheric CO_2 concentration has risen relentlessly in recent decades and between 2000 and 2008 emissions increased by a staggering 29 per cent.