The issue of climate change presented a golden opportunity for Europe to flex its soft power, economic muscle and high-minded internationalism for the good of mankind. Perhaps, mused some, the EU should rebrand itself the “Environmental Union.”

As long as nation-states have distinctly different levels of energy-dependent economic development, and their self-interests are so varied, there is really no basis for the mutuality of interest required for a meaningful treaty. 
 

The impact of Ban Ki-moon’s New York summit on UN efforts to curb climate change faces its first test on Monday in Bonn, where envoys from over 190 countries meet for a week of negotiations.

The largest climate change demonstration in history took place on Sunday. According to organizers of thePeople’s Climate March, an estimated 400,000 people participated in the protest in New York. For comparison, the size of the march was comparable to the scale of the February 15 anti-war demonstration in 2003. The demonstration at the Copenhagen Summit in 2009 mobilized about 100,000 people, but US demonstrations at that time generally mobilized fewer than 1,000 people.

As leaders from around the world gather at the United Nations this week for a global summit on climate change, the outlook is gloomy. The U.S, historically the world's worst polluter, can't even decide if man-made climate change exists. Meanwhile, China, the current king of greenhouse gas emissions, is reluctant to sign on to any climate change pact that would hinder its growth. All of which got me thinking about Sting.

All international development assistance and investments from the United States will now be required to take into account the potential impacts of climate change, according to a new rule signed Tuesday by President Barack Obama.

Barack Obama will announce at a UN summit Tuesday that he will sign an executive order to ensure that US funds going abroad to poorer nations go to fight global warming. The executive order also will have the US handing out science and technology tools to poorer nations in order to fight it.

A marquee has been erected on the driveway of the United Nations to deprive potential snipers of a line of site, as world leaders lever themselves out of their limousines. Even inside the headquarters building, blue partitions have been put up, presumably to sequester the leaders from the journalists who work here day in day out. With some 140 heads of state and government scheduled to attend, a record-breaking number, leaders' week at the United Nations is like no other.