As we hurtle towards the Copenhagen climate talks this December, the rhetoric is reaching fever pitch. Copenhagen is ‘the world’s last chance to stop climate change before it passes the point of no return,’ warns Stavros Dimas, EU Environment Commissioner. ‘There is no Plan B,’ mutters British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, darkly. This is ‘the most important meeting of our lives,’ agrees the Global Campaign for Climate Action, an international NGO coalition. ‘Failure is not an option,’ chimes in Nick Robins, head of Climate Change at HSBC bank.
Welcome to the topsy-turvy world of Copenhagen, where politicians, bankers and corporations compete for the best campaign slogans, Coca-Cola entreats the world to sign its ‘Hopenhagen’ petition, while Shell sponsors glossy magazine pull-outs reminding us we only have ‘10 days to save the world’.
