Francophone countries to slash emissions by 50%

French-speaking nations have pledged to help cut global greenhouse gas emissions in half by 2050.

Representatives of the 55 member nations of the Francophonie made the pledge during a weekend-long summit in Canada's Quebec City. (ABC)

Sounds impressive, eh? Trouble is that when you take France and Canada out of the equation (the EU agreement is on the rocks, and the Canadian election last week put paid to any kind of emissions reduction schemes there), the remaining "Francophonie" countries make up less than 3% of global emissions, so a 50% cut will reduce anthropogenic CO2 by 1.5% - about the same as Australia's entire CO2 output - which, even if CO2 drives temperature, will achieve nothing.

But the real point here is that many of the Francophonie countries are desperately poor, and need to concentrate on developing their economies to even survive, and the last thing they need is to be hamstrung by pointless emissions reductions. The president of Gabon hit the nail on the head when he said that many countries were:

preoccupied with access to clean drinking water, water for agriculture, and management of cross-border waters.

Read it here and here.