Why Kyoto will vanish into hot air

So the leaders of the world are gathering in Montreal this week to discuss Kyoto, climate change, and complain about the USA again this week.

After a while, one begins to wonder if they'll ever get tired of the incessant complaining about the US and just move on. (Disclosure - I've been saying Kyoto is as good as dead for years, now, without US, Russian and Chinese buy-in.)

The British Newspaper site "The Times Online" is now saying the same thing. They may be slightly more optimistic, but their conclusion is the same - "Kyoto has been an extraordinary piece of work. A treaty that its most important signatories have found impossible to meet, and which has changed behaviour very little, has still become a resonant global symbol."

So what will shape efforts to curb global greenhouse gas emissions after Kyoto dies? There are a number of options.

It will be fascinating to see whether the assembled plethora of European Nations and activist NGO's can develop a solution which is rationale, reasonable and market driven... or continue to beat the dead horse which is a punitive, country driven effort, like Kyoto.