Negotiators For Rio+20 Declaration Hard At Work To Weaken, Eliminate Green Targets, Language

[hatrack]

EDIT

nformal talks are taking place in New York until Friday to shape the main negotiating text. One area of discussion is how to measure economic growth to take into account the value of natural assets, such as water and forests, as well as innovative financing, phasing out fossil fuel subsidies and a plan to help prevent ocean acidification.

Participants said there had been moves to water down a clause which would require companies to include sustainability information in their corporate reporting. "It appears to be batting to and fro in a tennis rally here," David Pitt-Watson, chairman of investor Hermes Focus Asset Management, told Reuters from New York.

"There have been suggestions for watering down and also for putting the clause back in as it originally was," he said.

EDIT

Language on phasing out "market distorting and environmentally harmful" subsidies, including for fossil fuels, agriculture and fisheries, could also be weakened or dropped after opposition from Japan, the United States and Canada, observers said. More than 130 heads of government and deputies are on the summit's speaker list but some major figures, such as U.S. President Barack Obama and British Prime Minister David Cameron, are not expected to attend.

EDIT

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/05/01/us-rio-text-idUSBRE84011T20120501

[pscot]

1. This is more beaurocratic paper-hanging

Conferences like these don't do a damn bit of good. These people are part of the problem, not the solution.

[Nihil]

2. Plus ça change, plus c'est la même merde.

Talk about carrots ...

> phasing out fossil fuel subsidies
> a plan to help prevent ocean acidification.
> sustainable development goals
> food security, water and energy

... but only act according to the stick ...

> not expected to produce mandatory targets
> moves to water down a clause
> weakened or dropped after opposition from Japan, the United States and Canada


... and the fix is most definitely in ..

> Informal talks are taking place in New York until Friday to shape the main negotiating text.

What a fucking farce.

Yet another complete waste of time, money & resources - fiddling while the planet burns.