The High Cost of Green

Twenty nations including Japan, Italy and Australia may be releasing more greenhouse-gas pollution than they agreed to under the Kyoto treaty to curb global warming. They're failing to rein in carbon-dioxide output enough to meet their pledges signed in 1997 in Kyoto, Japan, according to reports by individual countries. As a penalty for missing their goals under the treaty, the nations are required to buy permits for every excess ton of the heat-trapping gas released through 2012.

In 2015, the world’s leaders attempted to address the major problems facing mankind by setting the Sustainable Development Goals — a compilation of 169 targets to be hit by 2030. 

Global leaders recently swept into New York for the United Nations General Assembly, trailed by thousands of media, activists and protestors. During the high-level get-together, two very different meetings held at the exactly same time revealed much about their priorities—and their flawed approach to the planet’s biggest problems.