I think you’re not only being too cynical but thinking too much “big power politics” when it comes to climate change: this isn’t nuclear disarmament we’re talking about, with a noisy but almost entirely uninfluential public. Climate change is being tackled – and will need to be tackled – at many many different levels from individuals to corporates to local and regional governments as well as the big states. Do you not think the views of consumers impacted on M and S’s Plan A? Doesn’t express business concern over global warming impact on Tory or indeed Labour party thinking? And of course the actions of the Governors of a number of US states have impacted strongly on the centre and left of US political thinking at national level.

There is no nirvana on Climate (although the Indians will listen to Obama and indeed are very clear about what they want to cut a deal) but a whole lot of different interconnected actions and Carwyn or whoever wins next month will have a role to play. They will be the nearest Wales has to a voice on this issue (outwards and inwards), they will decide which of the difficult initial radical choices Wales takes on sustainability (and any sensible UK govnt will be encouraging trials at big city/devolved nation level) and will obviously take a key role in how far the response to climate change impacts acrss a range of domestic policies. Carwyn’s stance is arguably smart politics too, climate is a totem issue for many educated young people who will be voting in increased numbers as they get older and as the symptoms of the problem become more acute.