Ed Davey Says "A Global Effort Is Needed If We Are To Achieve Our Climate Goals"

According to the UK's Department of Energy and Climate Change:c

Energy and Climate Change Secretary Edward Davey and Climate Change Minister Greg Barker will both be attending the second week of the COP18 negotiations in Doha, commencing on 3rd December

The second week of the "18th session of the Conference of the Parties to the UNFCCC and the 8th session of the Conference of the Parties serving as the Meeting of the Parties to the Kyoto Protocol" starts tomorrow at the Qatar National Convention Centre in Doha, Qatar.

According to DECC's rather terse press release Ed Davey said last week that:

A global effort is needed if we are to achieve our climate goals – we need to pave the way for the new global deal while delivering more action now.

Many developed and developing countries have already come forward with pledges under the UN framework to reduce their emissions by 2020. I want to encourage more to do so at Doha and beyond.

The EU has led the way in calling for more ambition and in enshrining emissions reductions in law. I want to encourage it to move to a more ambitious 2020 emissions reduction target of 30%.

Here in the UK we are driving forward our plans to move to a lower-carbon energy mix, and this week we will be publishing the Energy Bill which will enable this.

I also want to see progress at Doha on achieving the global deal that all countries agreed to work towards in Durban last year. For the first time all countries agreed to sign up to a legally-binding deal to be adopted by 2015, and at Doha we need to agree a plan for these crucial negotiations.

Whilst I agree with Ed that these negotiations are indeed crucial, based on past experience I have to say that whilst I fully expect vast amounts of hot air to be emitted in Doha it seems very unlikely that much in the way of actions to mitigate the emerging "Climate Chaos" will be generated.  Back here in the UK, RegenSW have this to say about the new Energy Bill:

Electricity Market Reform aims to set up an effective and efficient market based system to attract investment into electricity generation within a strong government regulatory framework. As ever, a simple principle of a long term contract for generators becomes a highly complex undertaking in practice.

The stakes are high – any mistakes in the government framework could have a major impact on investment and compromise the objectives of secure, low carbon and affordable energy.

Do you suppose we can rely on Ed Davey and Greg Barker to come back from Doha with "a more ambitious 2020 emissions reduction target of 30%", and then for the rest of our current coalition government not to make any mistakes as they finalise their new energy framework?