Crisis "must not kill climate action"

Vested Interest Alert: Environment ministers from more than 30 countries are at a carbon-fuelled jolly in Warsaw, where they are all struggling to remember the reason for their existence in the face of the current (more urgent) financial crisis. Remember, this is only a pre-conference meeting, as the main gab-fest in Poznan in December will have delegates from no less than 190 countries, and will have a carbon footprint the size of Siberia.

"There was a very strong consensus that the current financial turmoil should not be an excuse to slow down action on climate change," UN climate chief Yvo de Boer told The Associated Press after the talks Tuesday.

And they are starting to trot out regularly the curious argument that tackling climate change will actually help the economy - although how throwing trillions of dollars down the gurgler to tinker with a harmless trace gas can do anything other than cripple economies left, right and centre is beyond me.

"Many ministers said that addressing climate change can deliver important economic benefits that are important in the light of the current financial situation as well," de Boer said.

Our own "Climate Penny" was there of course:

Senator Wong told ABC Radio: "The current financial crisis does not lessen the need for the nations of the world to deal with climate change."

I don't think you need to worry about your job at Rudd & Co... The reality is that many countries in the EU have serious concerns about the sums of money that will be required to comply with pointless emissions reduction schemes, although whether they will have the bottle to stand firm and oppose them is another matter.

Read it here.