WASHINGTON CHANGES ITS TUNE ON CLIMATE
Financial Times
September 27, 2007

Original Link

The world must cut emissions or sacrifice the planet, Condoleezza Rice, US secretary of state, told a meeting of governments on Thursday, in the most strongly worded statement on global warming yet made by the US administration.

She told representatives of 16 governments gathered for talks on climate change in Washington: “It is our responsibility as global leaders to forge a new international consensus on how to solve climate change... If we stay on our present path, we face an unacceptable choice: either we sacrifice global economic growth to secure the health of our planet or we sacrifice the health of our planet to continue with fossil-fuelled growth.”

She asked the governments present, which account for more than 80 per cent of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions, to agree a long-term goal on emissions reduction, establish mid-term targets for the same and to help develop markets for low-carbon technologies.

Her words reflected how far US rhetoric on climate change has moved in the past six months.

President George W. Bush, who rejected the Kyoto protocol, had previously called into question the state of scientific knowledge on global warming, and the US has been seen by other governments as holding up progress on international talks.

His decision to host a meeting of big emitters took the world by surprise.The two-day meeting, which finishes on Friday, is intended to be the first in a series whose conclusions will next year be included in the United Nations process on finding a successor to the Kyoto protocol when its main provisions expire in 2012.

Despite the newly warm rhetoric on the climate, however, stark differences remain between the US and other countries which are unlikely to be resolved in this meeting. For instance, the US did not table a proposal for what the long-term goal on emissions cuts should be, suggesting that it sees the issue of emissions targets as contentious.

Yvo de Boer, executive director of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, told the Financial Times: “It’s difficult to organise a meeting to ask others to come up with proposals but not make one yourself.”

Mr de Boer said that despite differences, the US decision to hold a meeting was “a very useful, positive contribution” to international progress on tackling climate change.

He told the meeting that the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the UN-convened body of the world’s leading climate scientists, had concluded that emissions needed to peak in 10-15 years and be halved by 2050, compared with 1990 levels.

Another point of contention is whether reduction goals should be set by international treaty, such as a successor to the Kyoto protocol, or at a national level.

Ms Rice indicated that goals on emissions cuts should be set at a national level rather than being international in scope.

She said: “Every country will make its own decisions, reflecting its own needs and its own interests [and] tackle climate change in the ways that they deem best”.

The US also favours voluntary targets for cuts rather than legally binding commitments.

But the UN argues that the best way to cut emissions is through a market in carbon dioxide, which would put a price on emissions and enable poor countries to gain access to finance for clean technology, and which, for its proper working, would require medium- and long-term legally binding commitments to cut emissions.

“Voluntary targets are a waste of time,” Phil Clapp, president of the National Environmental Trust, a US lobby group, said.

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RICE SAYS U.S. IS READY TO LEAD ON CLIMATE CHANGE (Update4)
By Kim Chipman and Viola Gienger
Bloomberg
September 27, 2007

Original Link

The Bush administration acknowledges the U.S.'s role in causing climate change and is ready to help lead efforts to address the problem, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said in opening a two-day international meeting on global warming.

"I want to stress that the United States takes climate change very seriously, for we are both a major economy and a major emitter," Rice said at the meeting today in Washington. "We are prepared to expand our leadership to address the challenge."

President George W. Bush, under increasing pressure from companies, fellow Republicans and heads of state to take stronger steps to cut global warming pollution, convened representatives from the world's largest economies and developing countries to help set the agenda for United Nations climate treaty talks starting in December.

Bush, who has opposed a mandatory cap on greenhouse-gas emissions and a global emissions trading system, will address the meeting tomorrow. He's called on countries to agree by the end of next year on targets for improving energy security and reducing greenhouse-gas emissions.

Critics of Bush's climate policies say the administration is trying to delay taking action until the president leaves office in January 2009.

The Bush meeting is "all process," said former Democratic Senator Tim Wirth, who was a top climate change negotiator in the Clinton administration.

'Oldest Game'

"The oldest game in town is if you don't want to do anything, and in fact if you want to kill something, then you focus on process," said Wirth, who heads the United Nations Foundation, a philanthropic group founded by billionaire Ted Turner to support UN causes.

Forty-seven people were arrested, peacefully, outside the State Department building in Washington today as they protested Bush environmental polices, said department spokesman Tom Casey. The demonstrators were blocking the entrance and refused to move, he said.

Rice today outlined three goals: agree on a long-term goal for cutting greenhouse gases; set varying medium-term national targets and programs tailored to the needs of each specific country; and work with businesses to develop "clean," commercially viable energy products.

The secretary of state, who is hosting the meeting of 17 countries, said the world must not buy into the notion that a cleaner atmosphere can be achieved only at the expense of economic growth.

'Gordian Knot'

"We must cut the Gordian Knot of fossil fuels, carbon emissions, and economic activity," she said. "This current system is no longer sustainable, and we must transcend it entirely through a revolution in energy technology."

Rice's comment comes as businesses have been clamoring for Bush and Congress to deal with climate change. General Electric Co., General Motors Corp. and Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. are among companies who are part of the Climate Action Partnership, a coalition formed in January that's calling for a mandatory nationwide cap on carbon.

Chief executive officers including GE's Jeffrey Immelt argue that regulation is needed so businesses can have certainty about investments in low-carbon technologies. In July, the Business Roundtable, a group of CEOs of U.S. companies such as Exxon Mobil Corp., called on the U.S. to take the lead in establishing a new global treaty to fight climate change.

Negotiations in Bali

At the opening session of today's meeting, Bush environmental adviser James Connaughton said the immediate objective was to give a "sense of action and purpose" to coming talks to replace the Kyoto Protocol, the global climate treaty that expires in 2012.

The U.S., the world's largest carbon polluter, and Australia are the only industrialized countries that haven't signed onto the accord. Developing countries such as China are exempt from the carbon cuts required under Kyoto.

Negotiations are set to start in Bali, Indonesia, in December.

Connaughton said there was "a lot of strong support for rapid action" and focus on new technology in private sessions in which officials presented their country's climate change strategies.

What was lacking, some critics contend, was any indication that the Bush administration might be open to the mandatory emissions cuts that some experts say are key for meaningful greenhouse-gas reductions.

No Hint of Change

"Sadly, Rice and Connaughton offered no hint of any change in the administration's ineffective, voluntary, bake-sale approach to the global warming challenge," said David Doniger, policy director of the Climate Center at the Natural Resources Defense Council.

By opposing legally binding emissions reductions, "They are rejecting the one step that would effectively cut emissions and trigger the energy technology revolution they say they want," he said.

Connaughton says the claim that Bush has only embraced voluntary reductions is wrong. Instead, he says Bush's climate strategy involves measures including market-incentives, government mandates, voluntary goals and partnerships.

"We'll be looking at the question as to whether President Bush should be stating for the U.S. a new overarching commitment," Connaughton said. "We will be looking at the question just like every other country."

Potential Obstacle

One major potential obstacle of the climate negotiations will be determining the obligations of nations such as China, India and Brazil. The U.S. and other industrialized countries want such fast-growing, developing economies to pledge to curb their emissions. Officials from those countries say any strategy must avoid crimping their economic growth.

Another sticking point may be Bush's position on mandatory emissions cuts. Bush rejected the Kyoto treaty on the grounds that it didn't include developing countries and would hurt the U.S. economy.

The 17 countries, as well as the European Union and the UN, represented at today's meeting account for about 80 percent of the world's man-made global warming pollution. They include Russia, China, India, Germany, France, Japan, the U.K., Canada, Mexico, Indonesia and Brazil.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, former chairman of the Nature Conservancy, is to speak to the group tonight.

Paulson earlier today in New York warned of "very, very bad outcomes" from global warming if the U.S. and other nations fail to slow greenhouse gas emissions. The comment marks Paulson's most comprehensive statement on environmental policy -- his main philanthropic pursuit -- in his 14 months at Bush's Treasury.

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