UN Climate Change Summit Meeting Shows Hope, but More Work Still Needed

GREEN IS GOOD
by Margaret Smith

World leaders gathered at the United Nations for a global summit meeting on climate change Tuesday, making modest proposals on how to combat the problem. Anticipation was in the air, yet the lack of ideas on how to address the issue on a world scale made it clear that political battles are still preventing any real action.

In speech after speech, presidents and prime ministers from countries across the globe spoke with eloquence on the hopes they have for climate change negotiations in the future, making grand promises on the progress that's possible through group work and cooperation between both developed and developing nations.

For all the ambitious rhetoric offered, however, there was an absence of clear planning. With 70 days left until the UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen this December, experts and analysts expressed disappointment on the lack of substance with which to build a new treaty. Work is to begin at the conference on drafting a new treaty that is to come into effect after the Kyoto Protocol expires in 2012.

Reporting live from the summit meeting for TreeHugger, reporter and environment expert Matthew McDermott wrote:

Nothing really spectacular came out of today's statements, though I'm not sure anyone expected otherwise. The mood so far definitely seems to be of monitoring expectations and laying out positions, with pains taken not to appear adversarial, prior to the big show in December. Everyone is on board with the idea that something has to be done about climate change, and sooner rather than later, but among the big players no one seems to be willing to give that much ground -- at least at this stage and in this biggest of public forum.

Those "big players" everyone is looking toward are the United States and China, who together account for more than 40 percent of the world's carbon emissions.

Both President Obama and President Hu Jintao of China spoke at the meeting Tuesday morning, outlining the individual steps their respective countries have taken toward reducing carbon emissions while recognizing that "the developed nations that caused much of the damage to our climate over the last century still have a responsibility to lead," as President Obama said.

President Obama cited the country's offshore wind energy projects; the new proposal on the very first national policy to reduce greenhouse gas pollution while increasing fuel economy for all new cars and trucks; and the energy and climate bill passed by the House of Representatives in June as some of the most recent victories America has had against climate change.

The same day of the summit meeting the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) finalized rules on greenhouse gas reporting as well.

The new program specifically requires suppliers of fossil fuels, producers industrial greenhouse gases, manufacturers of vehicles and engines, and any other facilities that emit 25,000 metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions or more per year to submit an annual report to the EPA. This will cover 85 percent of the country's greenhouse gas emissions and apply to roughly 10,000 facilities. The move is one that EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson said "is a major step forward in our effort to address the greenhouse gases polluting our skies."

"For the first time ever, we'll begin tracking how much greenhouse gas pollution is being emitted throughout the country," Obama said in his speech.

Switching gears, President Obama also addressed the issue of developed nations versus developing nations. While some developing countries have taken great steps in reforming energy use, others do not have the necessary resources. It is essential that they be provided the financial assistance in order to tackle greenhouse gas emissions, he said, because they are at the most risk and we must do our best to help all nations grow without endangering the planet.

"These nations do not have the same resources to combat climate change as countries like the United States or China do, but they have the most immediate stake in a solution," he said. "For these are the nations that are already living with the unfolding effects of a warming planet -- famine, drought, disappearing coastal villages and the conflicts that arise from scarce resources. Their future is no longer a choice between a growing economy and a cleaner planet, because their survival depends on both."

President Hu made the same argument in his speech, as well.

"We should make our endeavor on climate change a win-win for both developed and developing countries and a win-win for both interests of individual countries and common interests of humanity," he said.

President Hu named a number of China's future plans in climate change, including their plan to reduce the amount of carbon dioxide they emit, increase forests by about 98.8 million acres by 2020, increase the share of non-fossil fuels in primary energy to 15 percent by 2020 and develop an overall green economy.

Now that the summit meeting is over, the hope is that more progress will be made in the upcoming months so an international agreement can be made at the Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen, which starts December 7. The UN has launched a campaign entitled "Seal the Deal!" to draw in more support from the public on reaching an agreement at the conference.

"While the summit is not the guarantee that we will get the global agreement, we are certainly one step closer to that global goal today," Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon said at the end of the meeting.

GREEN IS GOOD