U.N.’s Eco-Shock Therapy

Posted on Sep 20, 2009

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The discussion strategy—pairing polluters with global warming victims—is aimed at creating a new sense of purpose in tackling climate change.

The United Nations is preparing a “diplomatic shock therapy” for its upcoming climate change summit in Copenhagen, Denmark. The intriguing plan will have world leaders—stripped of their entourages—participate in discussion groups, lunch with environmental activists and corporate CEOs, and have dinner with leaders of countries that their pollution most directly affects.  —JCL

The Guardian:

The United Nations is planning a form of diplomatic shock therapy for world leaders this week in the hope of injecting badly needed urgency into negotiations for a climate change treaty that, it is now widely acknowledged, are dangerously adrift.

UN chief Ban Ki-Moon and negotiators say that unless they can convert world leaders into committed advocates of radical action, it will be very hard to reach a credible and enforceable agreement to avoid the most devastating consequences of climate change.

As the digital counter ticking off the hours to the Copenhagen summit – which had been supposed to seal the deal on climate change – hit 77 days today, progress at the UN summit in New York is seen as vital. Nearly 100 heads of state and government are to attend the summit, for which a pared-down format has been devised.

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