LAST November in The Hague, when environment ministers from the European
Union refused to compromise on the Kyoto Protocol, a leading American green
accused them of throwing away “the best opportunity to achieve a strong climate
treaty”. How right he was. This week in Bonn, those ministers were forced to
accept a much weaker deal than the one they rejected in The Hague
(see “Kyoto lives”).
Two things need to be said about events in Bonn. First, the EU was right to
accept the least worst deal on offer. The Kyoto Protocol was only ever going to
be a…
