Sometimes deferring pain simply makes matters worse. We can only hope this point is not lost on the government delegates currently gathered at the United Nations climate change conference in Poznan, Poland. There to continue negotiations for a new treaty to replace the Kyoto protocol, the representatives of some 190 countries are finding that progress, even on this burning concern, can be tortuously slow.

There is near unanimous agreement about one thing: not acting quickly to curb global greenhouse gas emissions could have catastrophic consequences. But the deepening economic downturn has led some to believe that action should be postponed. Already a number of countries in Europe, led by Poland, have been lobbying for concessions on the European Union’s plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 20 per cent by 2020.