Nicholas Stern - one of the most influential voices in the international debate putting the environmental issues into an economic context - was recently interviewed by Kerry O'Brien on Australian television ABCTV's 7:30 Report.
Here's a link to the full interview transcript.
One of the most interesting comments for me was the following:
"KERRY O'BRIEN: Do you believe that China has the will and the commitment now to go to Copenhagen ready to embrace reasonable targets?
NICHOLAS STERN: Yes, I do. And here's why: China is very analytical about water, very analytical about engineering, examines what's involved in growth and energy in great detail. Chinese leadership, many of them engineers, many of them from the best engineering university in the country - Chinqua. They look very carefully at what the dangers are and what can be done. And that discussion and analysis has been going on for some years now. It's remarkable how it's changed in the last two or three years in China.
And in that analysis, China recognises very clearly that they're extremely vulnerable. They're major cities are on the coast. Their major rivers rise in a few hundred snow and ice covered kilometres of the Himalayas. They know that water is already being disrupted by climate change and would likely to be much more radically disrupted by climate change. They know also, as well as recognising their vulnerability, they know that they're potential deal breakers, that if they refuse to play an important part in this story then there's unlikely to be a global deal."
I have mentioned before in previous posts the importance of having real problem solvers in parliament and in leadership. I will say this again - as an engineer I am trained to solve problems not to create them. As a possible engineering politician I believe I can contribute significantly to helping Australia on the right path.
