It’s Getting Hot In Here

As if there wasn’t enough tension already in international climate negotiations, it seems the fault line between the United States and the EU on climate change continues to pull apart. An earthquake is inevitable, something has to give.

This week, talks are floundering on a potentially vital draft declaration between the G8 countries (Britain, the United States, Russia, Canada, Japan, Italy, France, and Germany) on climate change. The agreement would be designed to get consensus from the world’s largest greenhouse gas emitting countries on how to move forward on the issue. The agreement would be endorsed by the G8 at the upcoming summit hosted by Germany in Heiligendamm from June 6 to June 8.

This consensus is badly needed to kick start negotiations for the next commitment period under the Kyoto protocol to take place in Bali in December. Currently, commitments under Kyoto are set to expire in 2012 and if a new commitment is not negotiated soon, there will be a gap. The U.S. has been putting up significant resistance to progress, seriously watering down the draft agreement, removing key paragraphs on both the causes of climate change, and the actions needed to prevent it.

For example, in the latest version of the draft, a paragraph stating “climate change is speeding up and will seriously damage our common natural environment and severely weaken (the) global economy… resolute action is urgently needed in order to reduce global greenhouse gas emissions” has been removed. President Bush has also repeatedly stated that he would reject any agreement which resembled the Kyoto protocol.

This position is increasingly distant from the rest of the G8 countries, most notably the EU countries and Japan who are pushing for major emissions reductions in future agreements. It has been widely speculated that no progress can be made in international negotiations until Bush is out of office, but we need a new agreement long before that will happen. The support of the U.S. is vital to next round of Kyoto talks in December as the developing countries, such as China, India and Brazil have indicated that they will not undertake binding emissions targets unless the U.S. does so as well. The U.S. is demonstrating clearly this month that it has no intention of doing so. What is even more worrisome is the feeling amongst observers that U.S. negotiators appear to be attempting to cause so much damage now as to impact international climate agreements long after Bush has left office.

Yet another tremor was felt this past weekend when the United Nations Commission on Sustainable Development ended last week without a conclusion. The commission has worked for two years to produce an agreement on how the world should proceed on the issues of energy, climate change, air pollution and industrial development. The final negotiations faced significant resistance from the U.S. and China leading to a much weakened document. In the end, this led the European Union to reject the final draft, voicing serious disappointment and frustration over its lack of content on the issue of global warming. This failure will have serious implications for the future of the CSD, potentially damaging the ability of the UN to facilitate progress in the future.

While I sit anxiously waiting for another shock to hit, I catch myself hoping that those who have worked so hard to bring all countries together don’t give up. This work can only be done when everyone is at the table. It should be our job to keep our leaders hard at work, by reminding them of their responsibilities, showing them how to keep moving forward, and by showing them that we take our environment seriously, even if they do not. We must let our government representatives know that we are watching them as they negotiate these agreements, and remind them what we expect of them. As a Canadian, I intend to make my voice very loud when my government appears to be engaged in sabotage of the process. I hope you will all do the same.

-for more information on the ongoing G8 draft negotiations search for “G8 climate” at http://news.bbc.co.uk/