The EU Compromise and A Chat

During the years I was in office, EU Ministers would firmly emphasize and stress upon climate change policy in international environment meetings. They would highlight the gravity of the climate change trends and the commitments that members of the global community should make to ensure that the warming of the earth's atmosphere is slowed down. EU States usually displayed their firmness in this debate, while developing countries had reservations on regulations that would ultimately curb their development processes. The G77 countries would argue that the warming of the earth is a phenomena that has aroused due to decades of Western industrial growth and now that it is the turn of developing nations to advance, they are confronted with a global commitment to curb greenhouse gas production.
EU States met on December 12 in Brussels to allow East European countries to continue use coal as an industrial fuel until 2020. Coal combustion creates large amounts of greenhouse gases, in addition to other pollutants, and EU States in the past worked hard not only to eradicate it from Europe but also to discourage other countries from using it. This compromise is a setback for the EU that traditionally stood firm on its principles and could be taken probably as an indication of change . It also indicates that East Europe is well behind the rest of Europe, similar to the developing world in terms of the commitments it could make in this regard. This session and the COP meeting in Poland did not deliver any promising message for environmentalists who are concerned for the future of planet earth.
The Australian Ambassador in Tehran payed a visit to my office in the Tehran City Council yesterday. The importance of promoting dialogue on issues of mutual interest, joint workshops for exchange of experience on environmental matters with the Council or with the Center for Peace and Environment were discussed. He noted that the economic crises had not hit the Australian markets yet and that their government had worked hard to regulate private sector investments so that scandals like the Madoff issue in Wall Street would not happen.