Blackout to come
What did the major United Nations conference on climate change in Buenos Aires in December achieve? Only to arrange an informal meeting in Bonn in May. The key discussion was about the Kyoto Protocol, a tiny step towards stabilising global greenhouse gas emissions. But, as the conference showed, the gulf between political agendas and economic interests, and limited resources and environmental imperatives, has never been wider.
The protocol has been ratified by 132 states and comes into force on 16 February 2005. It is implacably opposed by President George Bush and the lobbies his US administration represents. It is also under attack from oil-rich nations, led by Saudi Arabia, alarmed by a treaty that means reducing hydrocarbons consumption.
A shared worldwide consciousness that humanity is heading for catastrophe - energy bankruptcy and dramatic climate change - is clearly a long way off. President Nestor Kirchner of Argentina stressed the need for collective responsibility to avert these threats with genuine solidarity between North and South, which should include debt cancellation for developing countries, in exchange for their reduction of greenhouse gas emissions.
The energy dossier
- Hydrocarbons: what’s left?, by Denis Babusiaux and Pierre-René Bauquis.
- The sun: damming its power, by Roland Lehoucq.
- Learning curves in energy use, by Benjamin Dessus.
- Transport: time to stay still, by Philippe Mühlstein.
- Energy in the century ahead, maps and graphics by Benjamin Dessus and Philippe Rekacewitz with Emmanuelle Bournay and Elaine Baker.
See also
The sun: damming its power , by Roland Lehoucq
Learning curves in energy use , by Benjamin Dessus
Transport: time to stay still , by Philippe Mühlstein
Hydrocarbons: what’s left? , by Denis Babusiaux,Pierre-René Bauquis
Who uses the most oil?
Infrastructure and oil use
Enough or dearth
Phases of energy dependence
English language editorial director: Wendy Kristianasen - all rights reserved © 1997-2005 Le Monde diplomatique.