Copenhagen deal "impossible"

Maldives: nothing to do with climate change - it's sinking

More from the UK Telegraph which reports that Copenhagen will, like most other climate talks, be a damp squib:

The UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen in December has been billed as the world’s last chance to stop global warming. But negotiations soon broke down because the US refused to sign up to targets on cutting greenhouse gas emissions.

The deadlock has forced world leaders at a summit in Singapore to step in and admit that any deal this year will be little more than a “political agreement”.

However they insisted that a legally-binding treaty will be thrashed out by the end of 2010 and even suggested a timetable and deadline to ensure negotiations stay on track.

The new “two-step” plan, put forward by the Danes, increases pressure on President Obama to attend the talks in Copenhagen and reassure the world that the US is serious about tackling climate change.

It also gives the world a chance to rescue the Copenhagen summit from certain failure by giving lawyers more time to work on a hugely complex international deal.

So remind me, why is Australia desperate to get a legally binding ETS in place before Copenhagen, when other countries will only be subjecting themselves to a political agreement?

Read it here.