COP15: The Final Hours.

With just a little over five hours left the COP15 summit is entering its final stages and there are still two big sticking points.

The first of these is over the money that will go to developing countries. Although the final total fund is set at $100bn there is still argument over how much of this money will be guaranteed government to government funding and how much of it will be less guaranteed private or corporate money. The developing nations want to see a large percentage of the total being government. I however think they should settle for the large amount of government money that is already on the table. This is because it will be almost impossible for the leaders of the developed nations to be able to pledge more then the already generous sum that's available. In fact I can already see how the American media and political right wing are going to shred Obama for giving away so much during a huge economic downturn. Besides if a deal is not reached then that government money comes off the table.

The second, and probably biggest, sticking point is over the amount of access that the US government gets to the Chinese government in order to verify that China is making the emissions cuts it has promised. The Chinese have offered "transparency" that basically means the Americans will be able observes the cuts being made. The Americans are pushing for "accountability" which basically means they will be able to observe the cuts and the processes by which these cuts are made. On this point I think the Americans are asking for slightly too much because there is an understandable lack of trust that the Americans won't use that access to do more then simply check that China is keeping its promises. I should also say that on the issue of climate change and that issue alone I actually trust the Chinese because although they no doubt want to turn the world into a Chinese Empire no-one wants to be the Emperor of a World that's on fire.