IT took 28 years of UN-sponsored climate conferences for one of them to even acknowledge the primary source of the planet’s woes. That was enough for the circus that concluded in Dubai a week ago to be hailed as a landmark.

It has been patently obvious for decades that fossil fuels are the chief culprits in global warming. Reports prepared for some of the biggest offenders pointed this out as far back as the 1950s. They were covered up, obviously. And varieties of greenwashing have been the norm since the world woke up to the challenge 30 years later.

Much attention has been focused lately on the Swiss cheese of loopholes that accompany the bland wish to ‘transition away’ from coal, oil and gas as the sources of most of the globe’s energy. This kind of wishful thinking might have meant something if the turning point had been recognised three decades ago, and efforts laun­ched to curb greenhouse gas emissions.

Meaningful investments in solar and wind energy, if launched as recently as the 1980s-90s, could have made a huge difference to Earth’s fate. It was not to be. The COPs since then have been reluctant to spell out the source of the world’s woes, partly courtesy of the Saudi injunction that any initiative........

© Dawn