Will COP28 contribute to worsening the climate catastrophe? With climate imperialists and sub-imperialists like Kerry, Al Jaber and Creecy in the lead, how could it not?

To explain environmental policy paralysis over the past quarter century, the hubris of Western governments' delegations always looms large on my radar screen. US climate czar John Kerry, for example, confirmed to Congress in July that the Biden Administration is unwilling to accept even rudimentary "polluter pays" logic. When asked by a Republican conservative, "Are you planning to commit America to climate reparations?" Kerry answered, "No. Under no circumstances." As for a new fund to pay compensation for what is termed "loss & damage," Kerry emphasised, "We specifically put phrases in that negate any possibility of liability."

He won't be alone. South Africa, the continent's leading greenhouse gas emissions source economy, also sends self-interested delegates to annual United Nations climate summits. At the 2009 Copenhagen climate summit, the 15th Conference of Parties (COP), then-South African president Jacob Zuma joined leaders from four of the world's top seven historic emitters: the United States, China, Brazil and India. After a side deal, they imposed a Copenhagen Accord with inadequate emissions cuts and no scope for climate reparations.

G77+China lead negotiator Lumumba Di-Aping warned a civil society meeting how some Africans in Copenhagen were "either lazy...