The pace of the game

Ed Miliband made his speech to other government ministers now gathered here in Poznan on Thursday afternoon.

I won’t surprise you by saying it contained lots of good rhetoric. This is a “Crossroads moment”. “We all need to raise our game.” It is time to “Up the pace.” Sometimes it was difficult to know which sport we were playing.

As a knowledgable campaigner, I hear you ask: “But what did he commit to?”
To say the cupboard was empty would suggest that there was a cupboard to start with.

Maybe that’s a bit unfair. He did state that the UK now has a law to reduce emissions by 80 per cent by 2050. A pat on the back to everyone who dragged the UK government - kicking and screaming - towards that 80 per cent target.

Yesterday I set out three things the UK needed to say (See ‘The 69th day’ below). This is how Ed faired:

1) Mr Miliband said that “A challenging target for 2020 will be adopted.” But not in Poznan? Not sure that’s really upping the pace in the way Usain Bolt would.

2) There was no reference to proposals by developing countries for finance and technology to support actions to curb emissions in developing countries. Ed maintained the EU’s silence on this, referring generally to the need for money. Earlier, the Netherlands did manage to refer to developing country proposals by name.

And despite talking about the UK’s challenging target, Mr Miliband failed to mention that these targets can be met through huge numbers of dodgy offset credits. Maybe the crossroads moment is from spinning around working out how an offset can meet UK targets and reduce developing country emissions, all at the same time.

3) There was no commitment on any new immediate money for adaptation in least developed countries. Raising the game in a “would love to pay for a round but my darling credit crunch card is a bit maxed out at the moment - sorry for trashing your house and forcing you out of your home though” kind of way.

Spleen venting accomplished, I’m off for a beer.