“CLIMATE INJUSTICE”
After a long muddled arguments of politicians and country leaders, a deal was finally reached on Saturday (December 19), but it turned out that it does not solve everyone’s big question: ‘Is it that bad?’ From a conference that was originally intended to produce a successor to the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, those gentlemen end up with an agreement among the world’s largest economies to take steps to curb greenhouse gas emissions, but no formal consensus on the part of the 193 nations present — and no prescription for what comes next in the global negotiating process that is nearly 20 years old.
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Now that President Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton have returned from Copenhagen with a draft accord committing China, India, and the United States to a new era of climate action, the obligation lies on the U.S. Senate to pass ambitious clean energy legislation. Unfortunately, many members continue refuse the deal. In particular, members who previously used China and India’s lack of commitment to emissions reductions as an excuse for being functional are now trying to redefine the Copenhagen Accord as meaningless. Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) led the pack, calling the accord a “nothing-burgerâ€
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At the climate summit meeting in Copenhagen, Ban Ki-moon as The UN Secretary asserted that Three days of action from ministers are needed to “seal a deal”. Yes, it is possible for that climate talk to change the history of human race, but the governments remain deadlocked on many key issues, including the size of emission targets, finance, and verification of emission curbs.
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By making a ‘climate deal’ in Copenhagen last week, Obama has made it clear that he is going to put up more concern for comprehensive climate legislation in the Senate next year. White House spokesman Ben LaBolt said the fact that “countries like China and India set carbon-intensity targets for the first time in history” should bolster the administration’s legislative effort.
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This holiday season should be the season of goodwill and joyful reconciliation. However, over the past week and a half governments and environmental groups have been blaming each other for the disappointing outcome of the Copenhagen climate summit. The blame game began with Europe-based environmental groups pointing the finger at President Obama and the United States. Greenpeace International said the U.S. had “dragged the talks down,†while Christian Aid singled out Obama for special condemnation and decried rich countries’ “strong arm tactics and intransigence.†President Lula of Brazil joined in; blaming Obama for offering “too little†when it came to pledges to cut emissions.
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