1.0Climate Change Dispatchhttps://climatechangedispatch.comThomas Richardhttps://climatechangedispatch.com/author/ccdeditor/Paris climate agreement is a triumph of hope over factsrich600338<blockquote class="wp-embedded-content" data-secret="fXAkjHMQKO"><a href="https://climatechangedispatch.com/paris-climate-agreement-is-a-triumph-of-hope-over-facts/">Paris climate agreement is a triumph of hope over facts</a></blockquote><iframe sandbox="allow-scripts" security="restricted" src="https://climatechangedispatch.com/paris-climate-agreement-is-a-triumph-of-hope-over-facts/embed/#?secret=fXAkjHMQKO" width="600" height="338" title="“Paris climate agreement is a triumph of hope over facts” — Climate Change Dispatch" data-secret="fXAkjHMQKO" frameborder="0" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" scrolling="no" class="wp-embedded-content"></iframe><script type="text/javascript">
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Within days of Paris, Turnbull's government announced approval for one of the world's largest coal mines.Illusions are dangerous, particularly in politics. Writing in the 1930s, the liberal theologian Reinhold Niebuhr observed: "The prestige of the international community is not great enough to achieve a communal spirit sufficiently unified to discipline recalcitrant nations." And he warned against "a too uncritical glorification of co-operation and mutuality" between powers with opposing national interests. Yet it is the prospect of global co-operation and mutuality that so many politicians and journalists today glorify. On climate change, the argument goes, political convergence is inevitable. Barack Obama, ironically an admirer of Niebuhr, hails this month's UN accord to cut emissions as a historic breakthrough. Indeed, for many influential writers – Thomas Friedman from The New York Times, for example – the Paris climate agreement is a "big, big deal". In reality, it represents a triumph of wishes over facts. True, nations have agreed to volunteer their carbon-cutting promises to the IPCC every five years. But they don't have to set ambitious goals. Nor are they required to meet their targets, because there is no penalty for non-compliance. No disciplining recalcitrant nations here.https://climatechangedispatch.com/wp-content/uploads/images_pics8_turnbull_malcom.jpg