U.N.’s Eco-Shock Therapy

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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