Let’s keep our cool in the battle over global warming

A WHACKING 15,000 delegates descended on Cancun at the weekend. Expectations were not high. The problem for those seeking the Holy Grail of a deal to “save the planet” was that the climate change debate has changed.

The meeting in Copenhagen last year was a disaster. It was billed as a two-week jamboree where politicians, surrounded by activists, would hammer out the details of a successor to the Kyoto Protocol. Many hoped really strong targets would be set on reducing carbon emissions that tied both developed and developing countries into the long-term process of decarbonising society.

Instead, the leak of thousands of emails and other files from the Climate Research Unit at the University of East Anglia revealed embarrassing discussions between high-profile researchers about tweaking data and excluding critics from peer-reviewed journals. The lesson of “Climategate” was that this climate change business is all just a lot more complicated than many were prepared to admit. Pressing the panic button would have been a very stupid idea.