Climate Change Compromise by Australia Has No Chance, Pachauri Says, India Agrees

By Matthew Russell Lee
www.innercitypress.com/un2climate092109.html

UNITED NATIONS, September 21 -- Two days before the vaunted climate change event at the UN General Assembly, a compromise proposal for the upcoming Copenhagen climate change negotiations was made by Australia, the world's largest per capita emitter of greenhouse gases. The Australian proposal would, as described by Climate Change minister Peggy Wong, would allow each country to set a national schedule of emissions.

Hours later, Inner City Press both UN climate expert Rajendra Pachauri and Indian environment minister Jairam Ramesh what they thought of Australia's idea. Ramesh said that India does not agree with what he called Australia's "binding" plan, that what is it proposing to do is to up its reporting from every six year to every two years. He said he has proposed to the European Union an annual dialogue on climate change, and would ask the same of the United States.

While Pachauri left the front table of the panel discussion, held at Vermilion Restaurant on Lexington Avenue four block for the police-surrounded UN, Inner City Press caught up with him and asked point blank, what chance do you think the Australian proposal has? "None," Pachauri said. For the reasons said by Minister Ramesh? Yes, he said.

Earlier in the Q&A, a questioner had referred to what she said what that day's New York Post, with "We're Screwed" on the front page. "That was a hoax," Ramesh gently said. He added that India would be foolish not to use its coal reserves.

And see, www.innercitypress.com/un2climate092109.html