After allegedly dangerous lull, war on climate change faces crunch year - Mail & Guardian Online: The "smart" news source

Climate change became the buzzword of 2007, when United Nations scientists published a bible-sized report spelling out perils from rising seas, drought, flood and storms, an achievement that earned them, with green guru Al Gore, the Nobel Peace Prize.

In 2008, the issue began to fade and almost vanished completely when the world financial crisis struck.

Compared with demands to muster trillions of dollars and save millions of jobs, climate change suddenly looked to many politicians like a threat beyond the horizon.
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Underpinning it all is money: the cost of easing addiction to cheap, dirty fossil fuels and shoring up defences against climate change.

"I can pretend that it's not the case, but we all know that it is," UNFCCC chief Yvo de Boer admitted, as he reflected on the financial heart of the quid pro quo.