Melting Down vs. Watering Down

There’s an abundance of coverage on the IPCC meeting this week in Bangkok (see BBC News, The Guardian, The Washington Post). And while glaciers melt and sea levels rise, the U.S. has joined with China to continue throwing cold water on efforts to prevent catastrophic global warming.

Observers are accusing that:

• Major polluters such as United States, China and top oil producer Saudi Arabia are expected to seek to water down the report, wary of language that prescribes targets to cut emissions or threatens their oil and gas industries. (Washington Post)

And again that:

• The United States and China want to water down a proposed plan for fighting climate change, arguing that action to reduce greenhouse gases will be more costly and time-consuming than scientists claim… The U.S. wants language inserted into the report that says the cost of available current technologies to reduce emissions “could be unacceptably high” and calls for putting greater emphasis on “advanced technologies”.