Will Durban end the fight against climate change?

Greenpeace International released a report on Nov 22, saying a handful of multinational corporations are "exerting undue influence" on the political process in the United States and Canada and other pivotal countries to delay global action on climate change.

The report, "Who's holding us back? How carbon intensive industry is preventing effective climate legislation", says that major corporations and industry associations representing oil and gas companies and other high-polluting sectors in the US, Canada and Europe are leading the lobbying and marketing efforts. Corporations and industry associations even in South Africa, which will host the UN climate change conference from Nov 28 to Dec 9, are part of the lobbying efforts.

In the US alone, industry stakeholders spend about $3.5 billion a year to lobby the government and finance American politicians "who deny" scientific evidence linking human activities to global warming, the Greenpeace report says.