Kyoto, Australia and honesty

An extract from the recent study by UCLA:

"The researchers' most conservative forecast predicts that by 2010, there will be an increase of 600 million tonnes of carbon emissions in China over the country's levels in 2000. This growth from China alone would dramatically overshadow the 116 million tonnes of carbon emissions reductions pledged by all the developed countries in the Kyoto Protocol."

Put another way, the projected annual increase in China alone over the next several years is greater than the current total emissions produced by either Great Britain or Germany.

Good intent, honest belief, intense emotion, self sacrifice or extreme activism won’t get us there without the co-operation of key polluting nations on a global scale. Properly channelled these efforts can achieve a green environment for Australia's future generations.

Crunch time

For Mr Rudd, the April visit to China will be more than a courtesy discourse in Putonghua. Now Australia has its seat at the Kyoto table, it will be the time and place for Mr Rudd to demonstrate his powers of political persuasion and deliver on both his and Mr Garrett's electoral promises to use Australia's position as a key player in the fight against climate change by "persuading" China to reduce its emissions.

It is as simple as that.