Climate change: Broken promises

Promised Pacific funds fail to appear, Stuff, September 8 2011:

Struggling Pacific nations were promised billions of dollars to avoid being wiped out, but the United States, New Zealand and the European Union have failed to deliver, their leaders say.

The Green Climate Fund was established in Cancun in 2010, to finance climate change related projects in the developing world.

The fund began as a pledge of $30b in 2010-2012 and developed countries promised to increase contributions until they were $100b a year by 2020.

So far little of the money has materialised.

Climate change on agenda for top US official, Stuff, September 8 2011:

United States deputy secretary of state Thomas Nides has used his first official visit to New Zealand to forge closer ties on climate change adaptation.

Nides arrived at Auckland's waterfront venue The Cloud this morning to sign a $US21 million cooperation deal with Pacific agencies on climate change programmes.

So, hot on the heels of one lot of broken promises, the US shows up with... more promises! Which we're expected to believe they will keep this time, as opposed to all the other times in the past.

Yeah, right. Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.

Climate change will not be stopped by promises, but by action. Unless accompanied by briefcases full of bin Ladens, I think we're entitled to assume that any promise of funding is just so much hot air.