A dried up river bed in Mozambique
The Johannesburg Earth Summit will go down in history - as a missed opportunity to deliver energy to the 2 billion people on this planet with no access to energy services, and as a failure to kick-start the renewable energy revolution that is required to protect the climate.
Tony Blair treated us to another lecture on the perils of global warming. But instead of delivering targets, timetables and cash, he gave us the usual hand-wringing. He said we need genuine political leadership, but seemed unable to provide it by calling for a meaningful global target for renewable energy.
Once again he failed.
And despite more than a year of debate, the Earth Summit energy �plan of action� barely resembles a plan, and is almost completely devoid of action.
The plan delivers nothing for the 2 billion people around the world who have no access to modern energy services. It contains no targets or timetables of any kind for the uptake of renewable energy. It does not reduce the massive subsidies to the fossil fuel industry, which continue to prop up its dominance of the global energy mix. It merely reiterates agreements that have been made in the past.
Thanks to the blocking tactics of Esso and the fossil fuel lobby the Earth Summit has delivered nothing! Nothing for the poor, and nothing for the climate!
