EU-Digest: BALI- Watered Down UN Climate Deal Victory for US but Loss to the World

US the largest polluter of the world

Special EU-Digest report on the UN Bali Climate Conference

BALI-Watered Down UN Climate Deal Victory for US but Loss to the World

The head of the U.S. delegation -- Under Secretary of State for Democracy and Global Affairs Paula Dobriansky -- was booed Saturday afternoon when she announced that the United States was rejecting the plan as then written because they were "not prepared to accept this formulation." She said developing countries needed to carry more of the responsibility. While rhetoric at such conferences is often just words, a short speech by a delegate from the small developing country of Papua New Guinea appeared to carry weight with the Americans. The delegate challenged the United States to "either lead, follow or get out of the way." Just five minutes later, when it appeared the conference was on the brink of collapse, Dobriansky took to the floor again to announce the United States was willing to accept the arrangement. The EU wanted an agreement to require developed countries to cut their emissions by 25 to 40 percent of 1990 levels by 2020. The United States opposes those targets, along with Japan and Canada. The latest draft of the agreement removes the specific figures and instead, in a footnote, references the scientific study that supports them. The talks have agreed to a watered down road-map for two-year negotiations on a new climate regime. The decision includes a clear agenda for the key issues to be negotiated up to 2009, including action for adapting to the negative consequences of climate change, such as droughts and floods; ways to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and ways to widely deploy climate-friendly technologies and financing both adaptation and mitigation measures. Concluding negotiations in 2009 will ensure that the new deal can enter into force by 2013, following the expiry of the first phase of the Kyoto Protocol, the UNFCCC said in a press release. The planned treaty would take effect at the end of 2012 when the current phase of the Kyoto Protocol expires. The Kyoto Protocol, which binds 36 industrialized countries to reduce emissions by an average 5 percent below the 1990 levels between 2008 and 2012.

"The U.S. has been humbled by the overwhelming message by developing countries that they are ready to be engaged with the problem, and it's been humiliated by the world community. I've never seen such a flip-flop in an environmental treaty context ever," said Bill Hare of Greenpeace. The European Union, which dropped earlier objections to the draft text, said it was pleased with the deal. "At the end of the day, we got an extremely weak agreement," said Sunita Narain, head of the Centre for Science and the Environment in New Delhi. "It's obvious the U.S. is not learning to be alive to world opinion.

Unfortunately the actions of the US delegation during the Bali conference once again exposed the US Government's true colors on the issue, which is not the green of the environment, but rather the green of the dollar.