It may be an alien thought for many, but really, there is no acceptable failure that can come out of the current climate negotiations in China and the upcoming negotiations in Mexico. China has its own climate records that show a worrying trend since the last 50 years. Using this simulator you can see that the world needs to be lowering emissions by 1% after 2016, anything more will make us pass the 2 degree catastrophic limit. These models however do not appear to include any runaway (methane hydrate) feedback emissions that are widely understood to take over from man made emissions at a certain temperature.
There are stong interests pushing for fossil exploration and implementation of nuclear power, around the world renewable development is thwarted and delayed by these interests, mainly industrial and banking, while specifically the industry has know for more than 50 years they where causing climate change. At the current rate we are destined to cascade into a repeat of the end permian extinction, which means no human will survive, the planet will revert to primordial chemistry for about 500.000 years.
The world may have a considerable number of leaders and heads of industry that simply don’t care about what the planet will be like after they die. These people should not be allowed to be responsible for that world. Governments however are put in a tough spot by the same industries that oppose an adequate response, and globalization has weakened the position of governments and allowed for insertion of global minded political figures (like Tony Blair) that sell out their own countries for a nice job at Goldman Sachs.
Those who care mix with those who don’t
Governements should try to take back power from the industries, and refuse to be held hostage by banks and corporations that threaten to leave or implode. This is the bigger battle that has to accompany the climate battle, and it may not be initiated by the supposed governments. For example in the US the organization with strategic responsibility (the Pentagon) appears to be both autonomous and fully aware of the climate problem. Consider that with a legally supported corporate puppet government, who should the army serve?
In the same vein, when do the contributers to the UN step up an start taking the best action based on their real security concerns, not the weak action they can get permission for from people that don’t care?