A charade at Copenhagen

They indulged in a fortnight of posturing and blether at the conference, intent on minimising any real change to the processes that have brought the planet to its present critical situation.

And then they piled in behind US President Barack Obama, whose blunt-sounding "The time for talk is over" speech obscured the reality that the US will countenance no restraint on its right to pollute the atmosphere through unrestricted use of cars and planes.

The US played no part in the democratic structures of the summit, preferring to stage its own sideshow, lay down its own proposals and press its allies and those it could influence to back its own statement.

Obama engaged in point-scoring with Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao, emphasising that China is now a greater polluter than the US, while ignoring that the disparity in population leaves the US far and away the leading per capita despoiler of the Earth.

In the end, China joined the US in signing up to a non-binding statement that undermines previous progress, such as at Kyoto, while leaving the polluters free to pursue their selfish priorities.

Our government said beforehand that it wanted a strong and fair agreement and, in an echo of the damning assessment of the Holy Roman Empire, it opted, in the words of Tom Picken of Friends of the Earth, for a document that was neither strong nor fair nor even an agreement.

The rich countries, which industrialised through environmental devastation of their own countries and imperial expansion, refuse to accept that they must take the lead in cutting back on greenhouse gas emissions.

They rely on the charade of carbon trading and offsetting which absolves the developed world from changing its ways while paying derisory compensation to poorer countries.

In effect, it hamstrings the poor world from emulating the rich world's industrialisation methods, forcing poor countries to eke out a poverty-stricken existence on the basis of crumbs from the rich men's table.

The charade at Copenhagen has failed the world's low-lying regions and islands, which will gradually sink beneath the waves as a result of rich-nation governments' indifference.

It has failed Africa's millions, whose already fragile existence will be exacerbated by higher temperatures that will further erode cultivable land.

But it has also failed the population of the developed world, who are not in such imminent danger but nevertheless face the prospect of uncertain weather changes and deterioration of air and water quality that will exact a terrible future price.

Our government - and other governments that are spinning the cosy fable that this non-agreement is some kind of "essential beginning" - must be challenged over their complacency.

They must be told that this attempt to trump bitter reality with optimistic spin is not on.

The overwhelming conclusion of serious scientists the world over is that global warming is a reality and that only a legally binding agreement on behalf of the developed countries to cut emissions by at least 40 per cent by 2020 can provide the needed impetus.

Next year's follow-up climate conferences in Bonn and Mexico City must move beyond this summit's vacuous window dressing.