The Goldilocks view today on emissions trading

Too Hot, Too Cold, And Just Right: Russia wants to pull out, UK says they are delayed again in their plan and the EU sees a future of many - even the toughest - nations working in harmony.

Russia should withdraw from Kyoto Protocol because it will hurt the Russian economy, said Andrei Illarionov, an aide to President Vladimir Putin. But then this shoot-from-the-hip-boffin also says ``I can think of communism and fascism as the only two other cases in human history that set limits on development of certain regions before the Kyoto Protocol,''

Where as the EU executive says that an impasse should be broken by extending participation to developing nations immediately. ``The objective is a multilateral climate-change regime post- 2012 with meaningful participation of all developed countries and the participation of developing countries,'' the European Commission said in a paper released today in Brussels. Emissions trading is one of the ``building blocks to a truly international carbon market.''

The UK plan, on the other hand, has been delayed a number of times due to the British asking for more concessions and generally being a bad sport about things since they were the first to publish its allocation plan a year ago. ``We received a response from the EC,'' the London based Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affair said Feb. 4, without being more specific. ``We are considering further how to respond to the points raised in the commission's letter.''