It’s Getting Hot In Here

Despite public promises and mass media mobilization around the new global leadership of the United States to fight climate change, announced by George W. Bush in June, the US has come to Bali with the same attitude and lack of consensus building that they have used for the past eight years. “I am […] committing the United States of America to work within the United Nations framework and elsewhere to develop with our friends and allies and nations throughout the world an effective and science-based response to the issue of global warming,” stated President Bush this past June. But such rhetoric is dishonest in the face of US actions taken at the COP.
Yesterday, the US delegation tried to remove language on the ranges of emissions reductions for industrialized countries for 2020, as well as language calling for a peaking of global emissions in 10-15 years. They have also used their “leadership role on the issue of climate change” to block a consensus on technology transfer that was headed to the larger negotiations. These actions are demonstrations of the US impeding negotiations with their own interests in mind. The US’s new leadership on climate change is a fraud.
Even targets based on Nobel-prize winning science of the IPCC have been criticized by the US delegation. On Monday they claimed that the 25-40% cuts by 2020 are “totally unrealistic for many countries.” This position is inconsistent with the positive leadership promised by President Bush and the US delegation. However, it does bring to light the US’s absurd position on India and China. Correctly, many developing countries cannot immediately meet these targets. So why is the world’s leading economy waiting for them to take the first step? A global leader should recognize these common but differentiated responsibilities and step up to adequate targets for the leading producer of greenhouse gases.