A hot 4 months!

Parts of the northern hemisphere are still on holiday, others are just back - and whoever returns to their desk and email finds that we are facing a really hot autumn for the fight against climate change.

We are facing an unprecedented barrage of high level meetings during the next four months: let me give you a few highlights here only.

Beginning September, regional leaders meet at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation meeting. APEC will be held in Sydney, Australia, and in characteristic style, the Howard government has given NO ACCESS whatsoever to NGOs. Australia will have elections a few weeks later and Howard does not want to face more criticism of his climate policies - our fear is that he will join forces with US's George Bush in diluting and watering down any concrete action in the region. Bush is certain to try to use this venue as it is the only one where the Europeans are not.

On 24 September, the UN holds a climate change session of its General Assembly in New York, with three Special envoys reporting back from their meetings with heads of state around the world. This will be a crucial assessment for knowing how far the key countries want to go to protect the climate.

Right after that, President Bush invites the 15 or 20 biggest emitting nations to Washington to discuss climate saving strategies. Of course we would like to believe that George W. has made the transformation from Saulus to Paulus... but I cannot help to think that all that Bush really wants to achieve is to set the climate talks in the UN onto a course from which they cannot recover... beyond his farewell and of 2008.

In October, climate change is likely to appear on the agendas of the EU (their new version of the Emission Trading Systems), in a key science conference by CSIRO in Australia, a Commonwealth finance ministers meeting, and a pre-meeting for the large scale UN Climate conference in December.

That one will happen in December from 3 to 17. If you are an activist then you should already mark the Saturday 8 Dec as there will be global demonstrations and actions on that day.

This UN conference will be crucial in that it will need to set the start for serious and timed talks to limit emissions of industrialized countries by 30% by 2020. This is much - but more than needed and possible, as we and others have shown.

And in November? You think we are going to be lazy then, and take off? Think again: the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change releases its synthesis report on 16 November in Spain, at the same time as the environment ministers of the 20 biggest emitters meet in South Africa. On 20 or 21 Nov, the ASEAN leaders (now without the US) meet in Singapore which is already preparing for serious climate talks. The heads f state of the Commonwealth countries meet in Uganda, and the European Union finalizes its energy task force outcome.