Dr. Eddie Casey:

The Senator raises some brilliant questions, especially on the idea that we may have lost a decade for climate action and the like and investment in various areas. It is important to note this is not really a failure down to the rules and how they work. Rather, it is one of public choices not being made to move in that direction. Many countries now do not even have a plan for how much they think it will cost to address climate action targets. The plans are not even made, costings are not done and are not factored into budgets. This is not about whether it could have been done; they have not even left the starting point.

On whether the rules would have prevented countries from doing this, the answer is "No" because there was flexibility for investment more than there was for current spending. Countries were allowed some exemption to smooth through big spikes in investment spending under the rules. They were allowed to depart from the rules for a temporary period if they could prove it added to overall sustainability over the long term and it met certain big objectives. They could always raise revenues to finance these things if they thought they were really deserving of investment. I do not think it is a fair characterisation that the rules were the sole preventer of these things being done.