Are UN for the Climate Change Conference?

The United Nations is scheduled to hold their annual Climate Change Conference in Bali today. This conference is focusing on devising a plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions after the present Kyoto Protocol objectives expire in 2012.
The two week seminar will also discuss how to help fund poor countries manage with warmer weather since they are the regions that will be mostly effected with climate change.
"..The near-term vulnerabilities are not concentrated in lower Manhattan and London, but in flood-prone areas of Bangladesh and drought-prone parts of sub-Saharan Africa," said lead author Kevin Watkins of the UN Development Programme's annual Human Development Report.
However, there lies one difficulty that may set the conference back from developing a Kyoto II plan.
US President George Bush favors voluntary rather than mandatory emission goals. While the European Union is for the latter stating that the 27-nation bloc has already committed itself to cut emissions 20% by 2020. The disagreement between the economically-dominating countries is said to keep the conference from focusing on its main objectives.
Rachmat Witoelar, the Indonesian environment minister was named president of the conference, states, "Climate protection must form an integral part of sustainable economic development, and it is critical that we act and we act now."
I am hoping that the conflict surrounding this issue about whether or not there should be a fixed global emissions standard, (that I am all for), does not prevent this conference from coming up with a basic plan to aid the countries most affected by climate change.
I guess we'll all know by the end of the week. Source.

Who Gave China Bad Directions?

In an attempt to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions, China opened its largest ever coal burning power plant on Friday.
Wait, Does that sound right?
The four (ginormous) units that make up the plant became fully operational at a time when China is roughly 70% dependent on coal-burning for their energy. The overall economy of China is struggling as a whole to be 20% more energy efficient by 2010.
In the plants defense, (Yeah I'm going there), Xinhua news agency said, "the new power plant is using 'ultra-supercritical technologies,' reducing carbon dioxide emissions drastically compared with more traditional technologies."
A brand new high tech way of burning coal and emitting enormous amounts of CO2 into the atmosphere. I'm loving the sounds of that! Source.