Climate Change Talks May End with Nothing But Hot Air

Secretary of State Clinton arrived in Copenhagen last night to find the UN climate change negotiations at a standstill, with China’s representatives refusing to accept a deal requiring them to provide transparency on emissions. Clinton described China’s no-transparency position a "deal-breaker... All major countries [must] stand behind full transparency." Britain's energy and climate minister, Ed Miliband, warned that the two-week conference risked becoming "a farce... We may not get there on the substance. It is quite possible we'll fail on the substance. But at least let's give it a try." In that spirit, Clinton threw "a climate change Hail Mary," as Politico puts it.

Secretary Clinton arrived to pledge U.S. participation in a multinational fund to provide poor nations with $100 billion a year by 2020. The fund would go to developing nations who bear the brunt of global warming, and could, Clinton said, use proceeds from cap-and-trade revenues or carbon taxes. "The U.S. pledge to support a $100 billion fund by 2020 for developing countries has the potential to change the dynamic of these talks, leading the poor countries to put pressure on China to make a deal," said Paul W. Bledsoe, a former Clinton White House official.

Indeed, Secretary Clinton told the conference, "It would be hard to imagine, speaking for the United States, that there could be the level of financial commitment I have just announced in the absence of transparency from [China], the [world’s] second biggest emitter." But today China's Climate Change Ambassador Yu Qingtai told Reuters, "I can assure you that the Chinese delegation came to Copenhagen with hope and have not given it up. Copenhagen is too important to fail."

Friends of the Earth issued a statement in response to Clinton's pledge: "It's good to see the United States finally talking about putting longer term funding on the table to solve the climate crisis, but the proposal announced today is hollow. The amount falls far short of what the United Nations says is needed. Inadequate funding will condemn the poorest to languish in poverty while the world suffers from climate chaos."

President Barack Obama will arrive in Copenhagen tomorrow for the final day of the conference, and a 20-member delegation of House members, including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, arrived last night. Sources tell Politico that Obama will push for "a short, noncommittal collective statement" at the end of the talks. Wow, a statement is just what the melting ice caps need! Yesterday Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd told the conference: "I fear a triumph of inaction over action."

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By John Del Signore in News on December 17, 2009 10:49 AM

Comments [rss]

Bike Rider

shocking news

FDTW

Eh. Who cares? We've left this too late, and short of a massive change (which corporate America and China will never agree to) nothing is going to stop the natural disasters in our future. We had our fun, now its time to pay the price.

I love the fox news pundits who claim its all a hoax to make scientists richer. I mean, obviously its not the multi-billion corporations who face damage to their bottom line if they have to follow regulations, its the scientists who don't make more money either way.

Similarly, Al Gore is a tool, flying around in private planes to preach about conservation, and importing 1200 limos to Denmark to ferry around delegates at a conference on climate change? Its is all so monumentally backwards, how could anyone think things would change?

Think2wice

What did the first Maori say to the last Moa. "Jobs not birds."

Wza

"It's the end of the world as we know it..."

ides_of_march

The jig is up. The scientists have been admitted cooking the data. Global warming, climate change, whatever label they are using to sell this turkey, it's all about money and power.

Anyone who understands the first thing about the earth knows that everything about it is always in a state of change, it's entirely natural. The geological and cosmic forces that govern this dwarf all human activity. If you really think regulating cow farts and and the type of lightbulbs people use will fine tune the climate to our liking, you've been drinking far too much of the Al Gore Kool-Aid.

ladyjane

You are so wrong. And I have no idea what it is with you people. Have you ever seen the Mauna Loa graph? Climate change is happening, some of it is natural, most of it is anthropogenic (hello atmospheric carbon dioxide levels through the roof post Industrial Revolution). So tell me, what's the problem? Are you scared? Inertia's got you stuck? Maybe you just don't give a shit which I could forgive way more than the disbelief.

There needs to be an open channel between policy and society. I of all people believe that the individual is just as responsible as government for making a change. Turn off your lights, buy a re-usable water bottle, say no to plastic bags, change your pattern of consumption. But I'm also not naive enough to believe that if China continues to construct coal burning factories we are fucked. I admire the United States for finally stepping up and offering monetary support to developing nations. I see their side of this argument, and if we want them to develop sustainably, we had better supply financial aid. Plus, if we don't, then when they are totally screwed in the future (read dwindling water supplies, drought, malaria, loss of species) we'll be paying for humanitarian aid.

This conference is meant to inspire a cooperative agreement, and it's worked before. Montreal Protocol 1987.

ladyjane

*we are NOT fucked

nicemarmot

Global warming is real, the question is are we humans affecting it and can we do anything to change it. There has always been climate change and always will be.

Also, that picture is incredibly depressing.

mdow

Are we affecting it? Well, last I checked, the rainforests weren't cutting themselves down, and the forest creatures weren't mining coal and burning it. So I'm leaning toward "yes."

Snoopy

It is. The poor bear had to swim all the way out there to take a healthy dump away from the other nosy bears.

ahidayat08

Climate change is already happening and represents one of the greatest environmental, social and economic threats facing the planet.

The warming of the climate system is unequivocal, as is now evident from observations of increases in global average air and ocean temperatures, widespread melting of snow and ice, and rising global mean sea level.

NannyState

So unplug everything in your apartment.

valeriob

Global Warming, meh...

hotstepper

they can dawdle all they like. the way i see it, it is incumbent upon all of us to live the best way possible. we lead. not the gov't back-biters and hand-wringers.

mdow

China will continue to fuck things up as long as there's no regulatory framework/international treaty holding them accountable. So yes, it'd be nice if people made wiser choices (which, really, isn't going to happen in a significant way), but that's not the entire solution.

hotstepper

while i'm no fan of the china machine, we are running neck and neck with them as the world's biggest polluters. and despite being a "world leader" our gov't has unabashedly proven time and again that we are dead set against other nations regulating our own emissions.

hypocrisy is not a friend at the bargaining table.