Brussels Edition: The Next Big Thing

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Forget the miniature euro-area budget agreed on Friday and the Eurogroup meetings of finance ministers which dominated the EU’s agenda for the past decade: it’s all about climate now. Infighting over an EU leaders’ communique on climate change this week and the global differences to be laid bare at a key United Nations’ gathering in Bonn starting today show how environmental policy is fast becoming the next big thing. Arresting — and adapting to — climate change will demand such a profound transformation of economies and such a vast reallocation of resources (in the order of trillions) that it will make all other policy debates appear trivial. Some are finally getting it.