Posted on 12/02/2007 2:18:35 PM PST by ricks_place
BALI, Indonesia - World powers meeting at a UN climate change conference in Indonesia this week won't be able to craft a meaningful plan to address global warming without co-operation from the United States, the top emitter of greenhouse gases, the UN's climate chief said Sunday.
The United States refused to sign the last major international treaty on reducing greenhouse gases, undermining its effectiveness.
Delegates from 190 countries will gather on the resort island of Bali on Monday for one of the largest global warming conferences ever, bringing together about 10,000 people including Hollywood luminaries, former vice-president Al Gore, fishermen and drought-stricken farmers for two weeks of marathon discussions.
World leaders will attempt to launch negotiations that could lead to a replacement for the Kyoto Protocol, which expires in 2012. Among the most contentious issues will be whether emission cuts should be mandatory or voluntary and how to help the world's poorest countries adapt to a warmer climate.
Yvo de Boer, general secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, said the role of the United States "would be critical" in the discussions and that delegates must come up with a roadmap that's embraced by Washington.
"To design a long-term response to climate change that does not include the world's largest emitter and the world's largest economy just would not make any sense," he told reporters.
The United States, which along with Australia refused to sign the Kyoto Protocol, said ahead of the Bali talks that it was eager to launch negotiations, but has been among industrialized countries leading a campaign against mandatory emission cuts.
But now the United States finds itself isolated at the conference, given that Australian Prime Minister-elect Kevin Rudd, whose party swept to power in general elections just one week ago, immediately put signing the Kyoto pact at the top of his international agenda.
President Bush, trying to fend off charges that America is not doing enough, said this week that a final Energy Department report showed American emissions of carbon dioxide, a leading greenhouse gas, declined by 1.5 per cent last year while the U.S. economy grew.
"Energy security and climate change are two of the important challenges of our time. The United States takes these challenges seriously," he said.
The meeting on Bali comes after a Nobel Prize-winning UN network of scientists issued a report concluding the level of carbon and other heat-trapping "greenhouse gas" emissions must be stabilized by 2015 and decline from there to stave off the worst effects of climate change.
The solutions are within reach, they said, from investing in renewable energy to improving energy efficiency. Without action, temperatures will rise, resulting in droughts, severe weather, dying species and other consequences, they said.
"It is already affecting the livelihoods of people we work with," said Dr. Charles Ehrhart, Climate Change Co-ordinator for CARE International, citing concerns over food security and access to water. "It is contributing to tensions within and between communities."
The 1997 Kyoto pact required 36 industrial countries to reduce carbon dioxide and other heat-trapping gasses but it set relatively low emissions reduction targets: about a five per cent required drop in the levels recorded in 1990 by 2012.
A new agreement must be concluded within two years to ensure a smooth, uninterrupted transition.
De Boer said countries need to act now but acknowledged that anyone who expects the Bali meeting to result in specific targets or long-term solutions "will leave disappointed."
Industrialized countries, which have pumped the lion's share of greenhouses gases into the atmosphere to date, should take the lead in reducing emissions, he said. Developing countries like China, the world's second biggest emitter of greenhouse gases, may not be required to cut their emissions immediately but should commit slowing the growth of carbon dioxide and other heat trapping gases.
At best, analysts believe, Bali could lead to an agreement in about two years time with the United States under a new administration, the Europeans and other industrial nations committing to deepening blanket emissions cuts. And they say major developing countries could agree to enshrine some national policies - China's auto emission standards, for example, or energy-efficiency targets for power plants - as international obligations.
Yea what are they gonna do if we say no? Sanctions against us. Let me /cry some. Oh noes.
Correct. Just as the hunger nazis consider you one of the "hungry in America" if you even think about not having enough to eat.
We need to revert our economy so rapidly to the Stone Age that the ensuing crisis takes down the Chinese economy too. And no cooking fires and no cattle, Americans. But say yes to even higher taxes. Gosh, cavemen lived better than we will in our near future.
Weather report from upper New York state. Last night low temp was 15 degrees F. It snowed and there currently is 3 to 5 inches of wet snow on the ground with more expected tonight.
My palm trees have been frozen off at the ground.
That is not very persuasive to me.
Molon labe, buddy.
The New Yorker was a dull Communist rag even in its best days, but at least the cartoons used to be funny. One by Barsotti sometime in the 1980s comes to mind in this context:
A businessman is talking on his phone, standing up at his desk in front of what's apparently his appointment calendar.
"No, Thursday's out. How about never? Is never good for you?"
Molon labe, buddy. And by the way, you will NEVER make it meaningful, because it is Bogus Science and it does not MEAN anything.
US must be part of UN change (make smaller and move to Zimbabwe, West Bank, Iran, Cuba, etc.
Luminary: a person who has attained eminence in his or her field or is an inspiration to others
Naaaaahhhh....no bias there....
Translation: UN concludes USA by cooperate in worlds attempt to destroy USA.
Hillary, pelosi, and reid volunteer to help.
“BALI, Indonesia - World powers meeting at a UN climate change conference in Indonesia this week won’t be able to craft a meaningful plan to address global warming without co-operation from the United States, the top emitter of greenhouse gases, the UN’s climate chief said Sunday.”
Sorry, that distinction goes to China.
The globe has been warming "Back Up" every since the ice age! And from what we were taught back in grade school, it's still got some warming to go before it get's back to what it was when the dinosaur's roamed the earth. Leave it to al gore to take advantage of a natural happening.
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus
BS!
I notice that UN billboard's blood red.
...the United States, the top emitter of greenhouse gases....Maybe if we promise to put Michael Moore, Rosie O'Donnell, and Ted Kennedy on a diet . . . .
LOL.
They plan on turning of the SUN?
Climate Action in China China has ratified the primary international accords on climate change—the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the Kyoto Protocol—but as a developing county, China has no binding emission limits under either accord. China is, however, an active participant in the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) established under the Protocol. The CDM grants emission credits for verified reductions in developing countries, which can be used toward meeting their Kyoto targets. This provides lower-cost reductions for developed countries and generates investment in clean development in developing countries. China is by far the largest source of CDM credits, accounting for over 40 percent of those generated to date...
China argues that rich countries are responsible for most of the greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, and so should shoulder most of the burden of reducing them. It also points out that although its overall emissions are huge and growing fast (they will surpass America's this year, according to the International Energy Agency), they are still far lower than America's when measured per person (see chart). It would be unfair, it argues, to deprive China's citizens of the chance to live as lavishly as Americans do, despite all the pollution that might entail...
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.