Climate Change to Take Center Stage
at U.N. Talks
By STEPHEN POWER and IAN TALLEY
21 September, 2009 (Wall Street Journal) - U.S. President Barack
Obama promised strong action on climate change from his first day
in office, but he is heading into a series of meetings with other world
leaders this month under growing pressure to deliver on his rhetoric.
While the talk will be about the environment, the substance will be
about money. Poor nations say that if rich nations want them to stop
burning coal or cutting down forests, they should be willing to pay.
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has made global warming a
focus, and he is worried that the meeting won't move the ball
forward toward a new global climate-change treaty in Copenhagen
this December to succeed the Kyoto Protocol.
"We want world leaders to show they understand the gravity of
climate risks, as well as the benefits of acting now," Mr. Ban said.
"We want them to publicly commit to sealing a deal in Copenhagen."
While he said Tuesday's closed-door meeting was "not a negotiation
forum," Mr. Ban said he expected the leaders to "to give their
negotiating teams marching orders to accelerate progress toward
an...ambitious global climate agreement."
China has proposed that developed nations contribute 1% of gross
domestic product to subsidize efforts by poorer nations to cut
carbon-dioxide emissions. That translates to more than $140 billion
for the U.S. alone. U.S. climate envoy Todd Stern says the Chinese
proposal is "untethered from reality."
Separately, China is trying to establish a voluntary market to
encourage companies and individuals to reduce emissions. China
Beijing Environment Exchange is scheduled to launch the country's
first voluntary carbon standard in New York on Wednesday.
Mr. Obama's administration has begun to act on its own to cut
emissions. Last week, the administration rolled out details of its
strategy to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions from cars. The head of
the Environmental Protection Agency said the proposal paves the
way for regulating emissions from other sources, such as power
plants.
But a broad proposal to limit U.S. greenhouse-gas emissions is
bogged down in the Senate, with Republicans solidly opposed and
Democrats divided. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D., Nev.),
said earlier this month that the Senate might delay a vote on climate
legislation until next year. A spokesman for Mr. Reid later clarified
that the measure could still come to the floor by year end.
Mr. Reid's wavering added to the frustration among countries that
had hoped for major progress toward a new global climate deal at
the Copenhagen summit.
"Is the U.S. Senate really expecting all the other countries to make a
serious effort on climate change at the Copenhagen Conference in
the absence of a clear commitment from the United States?" John
Bruton, the European Union's ambassador to the U.S., said in a
written statement last Thursday. "Asking an international Conference
to sit around looking out the window for months, while one chamber
of the legislature of one country deals with its other business, is
simply not a realistic political position."
Republicans say whatever deal the Obama administration cuts in
Copenhagen will likely be dead on arrival in Washington. The gaps
between developed and developing nations' demands, they say, are
too wide to be bridged.
Wisconsin Rep. James Sensenbrenner, the top Republican on the
House Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global
Warming, predicts "a repeat of Kyoto -- namely an environmentally
ineffective agreement that cannot be ratified" by the Senate.
Not everyone is gloomy about the prospects for a deal in
Copenhagen. Connie Hedegaard, Denmark's climate and energy
minister, says she sees hope in the fact that Japan's new prime
minister, Yukio Hatoyama, recently pledged that his country will
seek to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 25% from 1990
levels by 2020 -- a much bigger cut than the 8% goal set by former
Prime Minister Taro Aso.
Still, big differences remain between the U.S. and Europe on
fundamental issues, including how quickly rich countries should have
to cut their emissions over the next decade or so. While the
European Union has pledged to cut its emissions by at least 20%
below 1990 levels by 2020 -- and to increase that reduction to
30% if other major emitters do the same -- the most aggressive
proposal in Congress to curb U.S. emissions calls for a 4%
reduction beneath 1990 levels by 2020.
—Joe Lauria and Carolyn Cui contributed to this article.
Write to Stephen Power at stephen.power@wsj.com and Ian Talley
at ian.talley@dowjones.com
at U.N. Talks
By STEPHEN POWER and IAN TALLEY
21 September, 2009 (Wall Street Journal) - U.S. President Barack
Obama promised strong action on climate change from his first day
in office, but he is heading into a series of meetings with other world
leaders this month under growing pressure to deliver on his rhetoric.
- More than 100 world
leaders, including Mr.
Obama and Chinese
President Hu Jintao, are
scheduled to meet Tuesday
at the 64th United Nations
General Assembly to talk
about fighting climate
change, in a prelude to the
Pittsburgh Group of 20
meetings starting Thursday.
While the talk will be about the environment, the substance will be
about money. Poor nations say that if rich nations want them to stop
burning coal or cutting down forests, they should be willing to pay.
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has made global warming a
focus, and he is worried that the meeting won't move the ball
forward toward a new global climate-change treaty in Copenhagen
this December to succeed the Kyoto Protocol.
"We want world leaders to show they understand the gravity of
climate risks, as well as the benefits of acting now," Mr. Ban said.
"We want them to publicly commit to sealing a deal in Copenhagen."
While he said Tuesday's closed-door meeting was "not a negotiation
forum," Mr. Ban said he expected the leaders to "to give their
negotiating teams marching orders to accelerate progress toward
an...ambitious global climate agreement."
China has proposed that developed nations contribute 1% of gross
domestic product to subsidize efforts by poorer nations to cut
carbon-dioxide emissions. That translates to more than $140 billion
for the U.S. alone. U.S. climate envoy Todd Stern says the Chinese
proposal is "untethered from reality."
Separately, China is trying to establish a voluntary market to
encourage companies and individuals to reduce emissions. China
Beijing Environment Exchange is scheduled to launch the country's
first voluntary carbon standard in New York on Wednesday.
Mr. Obama's administration has begun to act on its own to cut
emissions. Last week, the administration rolled out details of its
strategy to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions from cars. The head of
the Environmental Protection Agency said the proposal paves the
way for regulating emissions from other sources, such as power
plants.
But a broad proposal to limit U.S. greenhouse-gas emissions is
bogged down in the Senate, with Republicans solidly opposed and
Democrats divided. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D., Nev.),
said earlier this month that the Senate might delay a vote on climate
legislation until next year. A spokesman for Mr. Reid later clarified
that the measure could still come to the floor by year end.
Mr. Reid's wavering added to the frustration among countries that
had hoped for major progress toward a new global climate deal at
the Copenhagen summit.
"Is the U.S. Senate really expecting all the other countries to make a
serious effort on climate change at the Copenhagen Conference in
the absence of a clear commitment from the United States?" John
Bruton, the European Union's ambassador to the U.S., said in a
written statement last Thursday. "Asking an international Conference
to sit around looking out the window for months, while one chamber
of the legislature of one country deals with its other business, is
simply not a realistic political position."
Republicans say whatever deal the Obama administration cuts in
Copenhagen will likely be dead on arrival in Washington. The gaps
between developed and developing nations' demands, they say, are
too wide to be bridged.
Wisconsin Rep. James Sensenbrenner, the top Republican on the
House Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global
Warming, predicts "a repeat of Kyoto -- namely an environmentally
ineffective agreement that cannot be ratified" by the Senate.
Not everyone is gloomy about the prospects for a deal in
Copenhagen. Connie Hedegaard, Denmark's climate and energy
minister, says she sees hope in the fact that Japan's new prime
minister, Yukio Hatoyama, recently pledged that his country will
seek to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 25% from 1990
levels by 2020 -- a much bigger cut than the 8% goal set by former
Prime Minister Taro Aso.
Still, big differences remain between the U.S. and Europe on
fundamental issues, including how quickly rich countries should have
to cut their emissions over the next decade or so. While the
European Union has pledged to cut its emissions by at least 20%
below 1990 levels by 2020 -- and to increase that reduction to
30% if other major emitters do the same -- the most aggressive
proposal in Congress to curb U.S. emissions calls for a 4%
reduction beneath 1990 levels by 2020.
—Joe Lauria and Carolyn Cui contributed to this article.
Write to Stephen Power at stephen.power@wsj.com and Ian Talley
at ian.talley@dowjones.com
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