Britian's Blair to Best Bush on Global Warming

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LONDON (Reuters) - Britain's Tony Blair will make an uncompromising speech on climate change on Tuesday, urging the world to act in concert and pressing Washington to change its stance.

Blair's focus on the environment -- an issue traditionally close to the heart of his Labour Party -- comes as he seeks to appease voters who have been angered by his support for Bush over the Iraq war before an expected general election next year.

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PERSUADING THE AMERICANS

"That means persuading the Americans to join the battle against climate change. It is very disappointing that Tony Blair has not succeeded in persuading the present administration that the challenge of global warming is one that cannot be shirked."

Blair's passionate plea for the world to act on climate change is nothing new but its timing -- less than two months before U.S. presidential elections -- is telling.

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1. this slid too fast

once more . . .


In an October 2003 document, “John Kerry’s Comprehensive Vision for a Cleaner Environment, A Stronger Economy, Healthier Communities” (http://www.johnkerry.com/pdf/long_enviro.pdf), he has much more to say. On international arrangements he says: “Bush’s abrupt and unilateral decision to abandon discussions with the world community on climate change was early evidence of this Administration’s misguided approach to dealing with the community of nations. Dropping out of international implementation of the Kyoto Protocol was foolhardy then, and it is even more obviously foolhardy today. In our absence, many of our major trading partners in Europe and elsewhere have been working on the details of international programs to manage greenhouse gas emissions. American interests are on the sidelines, having no ability to influence the development of a system that will profoundly affect the global approach to resource protection and investment in climate change technologies….”

The document notes that Kerry has demonstrated a long commitment to addressing climate change beginning as a participant at the Rio Earth Summit in 1992 that produced the U. N. Framework Convention on Climate Change and calls climate change “the globe’s most serious environmental challenge.” It continues: “John Kerry will reinsert the United States into international climate change negotiations. He will reestablish our nation’s credibility and influence over the process. The Kerry Administration will come to the international table with a serious domestic climate change program in hand….”

That domestic program will be centered on a cap-and-trade program to limit greenhouse gas emissions. The statement continues: “John Kerry’s plan recognizes that we must take immediate action to halt and reverse the growth in greenhouse gas emissions and reduce our carbon footprint while the economy expands. Leveraging pioneering state and regional programs, Kerry’s plan calls for all major sources of greenhouse gas emissions to participate in a cap and trade emissions reduction program for CO2 and other greenhouse gases (not just utilities, as some have suggested), so that the power of the marketplace can be directed to encourage that the most cost-effective reductions be made, whether at coal-fired utilities or from automobile tailpipes. This cap-and-trade program will reinforce other near-term initiatives that drive down emissions without reducing economic output.”

In addition Kerry offers a predictable mix of measures to require energy conservation and efficiency, such as higher CAFÉ standards for automobiles. Kerry would also require increased use of renewable energy. Subsidies for rural America are not neglected: “We can capture emissions reductions opportunities in forests, rangelands, and farmland by providing financial incentive for no-till agriculture and maintaining and increasing natural carbon ‘sinks’ such as forests and rangelands.”

http://www.johnkerry.com/issues/energy/