Obama's climate accord fails the test

[IndianaGreen]

NBC's Andrea Mitchell just broke the news on the Rachel Maddow show that China sent a low level official as its representative to Copenhagen.

Obama's climate accord fails the test

Watered-down agreement follows day of bitter wrangling in Copenhagen

By Michael McCarthy, Environment Editor, in Copenhagen

Saturday, 19 December 2009

World leaders late last night agreed a hugely watered-down version of a new global pact on climate change, after an astonishing day of deadlock, disagreement, misunderstandings, walkouts and insults at the UN climate conference in Copenhagen.

The agreement, patched together after massive and rancorous divisions between the rich nations and the developing countries, especially America and China, was described as a "meaningful and unprecedented breakthrough" by the US President Barack Obama. However, a senior American official openly admitted it was not enough to combat the threat of a warming planet, saying merely: "It is a first step."

Known as the Copenhagen Accord, the new agreement falls massively short of the ambitions many people had centred on the two-week meeting in the Danish capital, in the hope of a major new effort to combat the global warming threat. Although in principle it commits – for the first time – all the countries of the world, including the developing countries, to cut their emissions of the greenhouse gases which are causing climate change, the accord is not legally binding, merely a political statement.

They key timetable for turning it into a legal instrument by this time next year, which is what the world desperately needs so that cuts in CO2 emissions really are carried out, was dropped from the text during the immensely difficult and seemingly-intractable talks which lasted all day and late into the evening. In effect, that makes it toothless. Mr Obama himself admitted that a binding deal would be "hard to achieve".

And although, again for the first time, the new accord set a target for the whole world to try to keep the expected rise in temperatures to below the danger threshold of C above the pre-industrial level, last night's final text dropped all reference to the individual targets for emission cuts which countries will have to take on, both in the medium and in the long-term. It is possible these may be inserted early next year – but without being legally binding, they are merely generalised aspirations.

http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/climate-change/obamas-climate-accord-fails-the-test-1845090.html

[ProSense]

1. There are those who

disagree

[IndianaGreen]

2. and then there are those that will suffer the most for the failure in Copenhagen

Throughout the negotiations here, the world's low-lying island states have clung to the real ideas as a life raft, because they are the only way to save their countries from a swelling sea. It has been extraordinary to watch their representatives – quiet, sombre people with sad eyes – as they were forced to plead for their own existence. They tried persuasion and hard science and lyrical hymns of love for their lands, and all were ignored.

Johann Hari: The truths Copenhagen ignored

http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/johann-hari/johann-hari-the-truths-copenhagen-ignored-1845114.html

[ProSense]

3. And then there are those who do nothing but complaining

and think it is a policy statement. Obama can't change the world singlehandedly, but he can work to make progress while people are sitting around hedging their bets as to whether he's going to fail or not.

Copenhagen proved those who advocated doing nothing and anticipating nothing wrong.

There are those who want to kill the climate bill because it doesn't go far enough. I suspect they're the same ones who saw nothing coming out of Copenhagen, and now that there is something, it's awful.

Oh well, Obama is still making progress where no one else has been able to.

[GreenPartyVoter]

4. Progress can't be a bandaid when surgery is required.

[ProSense]

7. Right

and waiting for the perfect team of doctors when the patient is lying in the field is the best solution? Reality isn't a cliche.

[GreenPartyVoter]

14. No it isn't a cliche, but neither should it be settling for crumbs.

[Teaser]

15. Go fucking operate then.

Since you obviously know how to make China act like a grown up nation.

[GreenPartyVoter]

18. Sorry, that's the President's job in this situation. My job is to help remind him what his job is.

That is the point of representative gov't. (At least in theory.)

[Teaser]

19. I didn't realize your last post was a parody

thanks for clearing that up.

[IndianaGreen]

6. Obama Administration Pouring $1 Billion Into Clean Coal Project

Here is what our multi-dimensional chess grandmaster is doing, and a response from RFK Jr.:

Obama Administration Pouring $1 Billion Into Clean Coal Project

By Kent Garber
Posted June 12, 2009

Since taking over as energy secretary, Steven Chu, a Nobel Prize-winning physicist, has been talking up the importance of clean coal technology. The world won't abandon coal anytime soon, he has argued, so the United States has to start doing more to develop technologies that capture carbon dioxide from coal-fired plants.

In a sign the Obama administration is taking his argument seriously, Chu on Friday announced that the Department of Energy is pouring $1 billion from the economic stimulus package into relaunching FutureGen, an ambitious but long-stalled project intended to show how carbon dioxide can be captured on a large scale from coal-fired power plants.

Initially conceived in 2003, FutureGen was pitched as having the potential to be the first "zero-emissions" coal plant in the United States. In 2007, after several years of initial planning, Mattoon, Ill., was selected as the site. But in January 2008, the Bush administration pulled the project's funding, citing cost overruns. Since then, FutureGen has been stuck in something of an existential purgatory.

Effectively reversing that decision, Chu said on Friday that the Department of Energy has signed a new deal with the FutureGen Alliance, a consortium of roughly 20 coal producers and other companies that have backed the project from the start. Project officials will resume design activities and make new cost estimates, and a final decision on whether to green-light the project, officials say, will come next year.

The Energy Department will put up more than $1 billion to restart FutureGen, and the Alliance will chip in more than $400 million. Both will be working to bring in new partners.

http://www.usnews.com/news/energy/articles/2009/06/12/obama-administration-pouring-1-billion-into-clean-coal-project.html

April 22, 2009 2:07 PM

RFK Jr. Slams Obama On "Clean Coal"

In an interview with ABC News, environmental lawyer Robert F. Kennedy Jr. criticized President Obama and other political leaders for choosing "to endorse conditions that clearly are wrong" in the debate over so-called "clean coal."

"The coal industry and the carbon industry in general are the largest contributors to the political process," he said. "So, you know, you have politicians who have essentially become indentured servants to these, and adopt the talking points of these industries."

(ABC News has been criticized for suggesting in the opening of its story on the interview that Kennedy directly called Mr. Obama an "indentured servant." He did not do so, though he did include the president – whom he calls a "great man" – with other politicians who "feel the need to parrot the talking points of this industry that is so destructive to our country.")

"Clean coal" is a somewhat vague term; as Slate pointed out in October, the coal industry defines it as "any technology to reduce pollutants associated with the burning of coal that was not in widespread use" before regulations were put in place in 1990. (Notes Slate: "By that definition, the group can call any newer coal-based power plant clean.")

More broadly, "clean coal" refers to coal that can be produced more cleanly because the carbon dioxide created in the process, which contributes to global warming, can be captured and stored in the earth. Critics dub the idea a "fantasy" designed to prolong the country's usage of coal at the behest of the industry.

"Never was there an oxymoron more insidious, or more dangerous to our public health (than clean coal)," wrote Jeff Biggers in the Washington Post last month. "Invoked as often by the Democratic presidential candidates as by the Republicans and by liberals and conservatives alike, this slogan has blindsided any meaningful progress toward a sustainable energy policy."

http://www.cbsnews.com/blogs/2009/04/22/politics/politicalhotsheet/entry4961750.shtml

[ProSense]

9. U.S. backs $100 billion climate fund

U.S. backs $100 billion climate fund

COPENHAGEN (Reuters) – U.S. backing for a $100 billion climate fund to help poor nations revived hopes for a deal to combat global warming on Thursday as world leaders met on the eve of a U.N. deadline for breaking deadlock.

Many leaders mentioned risks of failure at a two-day summit that started with a gala dinner for about 120 world leaders at Christiansborg Palace, hosted by Denmark's Queen Margrethe.

"Time is against us, let's stop posturing," French President Nicolas Sarkozy said in a speech to leaders. "A failure in Copenhagen would be a catastrophe for each and every one of us."

Environment ministers planned to work late into the night on draft texts outlining curbs on greenhouse gas emissions as part of a 193-nation deal due on Friday to avert more floods, heatwaves, droughts and rising sea levels.

The United States, the number two emitter of greenhouse gases behind China, helped the mood by promising to back a $100 billion a year fund for poor nations from 2020. President Barack Obama will arrive early on Friday.

[IndianaGreen]

11. Hillary's proposal was conditioned on verification

the very issue that brought about the break between China and the US.

[Teaser]

17. yeah, can't have any of that verification shit

China has earned our trust.

[angee_is_mad]

5. Prosense don't waste you time

This is the biggest Obama bashing on here. Oh I forgot, the poster worked so hard to get him elected and is so disappointed.

[liberalmuse]

8. My apology the other night...

Was not meant for the professional haters - the people on DU who incessantly post negative shit about our President. I simply understand why some people are frustrated, but I don't understand those who post this kind of garbage on a daily basis several times a day.

[IndianaGreen]

10. Friends of the Earth U.S. Reaction: Sham Deal Requires Nothing, Accomplishes Nothing

Perhaps you should read what environmentalists are saying about what happened in Copenhagen, and not so much what politicians are saying.

Friends of the Earth U.S. Reaction: Sham Deal Requires Nothing, Accomplishes Nothing

Friday, December 18, 2009
For Immediate Release

Statement of Erich Pica, president of Friends of the Earth U.S., on tonight's announcement by President Obama:

"Climate negotiations in Copenhagen have yielded a sham agreement with no real requirements for any countries. This is not a strong deal or a just one -- it isn't even a real one. It's just repackaging old positions and pretending they're new. The actions it suggests for the rich countries that caused the climate crisis are extraordinarily inadequate. This is a disastrous outcome for people around the world who face increasingly dire impacts from a destabilizing climate.

"The blame for the failure to achieve a real deal lies squarely on the rich countries whose pollution has caused the climate crisis -- especially the United States. Rich countries refused to budge from the grossly inadequate emissions reduction proposals they brought to Copenhagen, and they failed to put sufficient money on the table so that poor countries that did not cause this crisis have the capacity to cope with it.

"With the future of all humans on this planet at stake, rich countries must muster far more political will than they exhibited here. If they do not, small island states will become submerged, people in vulnerable communities across the globe will be afflicted with hunger and disease, and wars over access to food and water will rage.

"The devastation will extend to those of us who live in wealthy countries. If we cannot find a way to cooperate with others to produce a real agreement to solve this problem, climate change impacts will devastate the U.S. economy, undermine our security, and inflict irreparable harm on future generations.

"The failure to produce anything meaningful in Copenhagen must serve as a wake up call to all who care about the future. It is a call to action. Corporate polluters and other special interests have such overwhelming influence that rich country governments are willing to agree only to fig leaf solutions. This is unacceptable, and it must change.

"Fortunately, while the cost of solving the climate crisis rises each day we fail to act, the crisis remains one that can largely be averted. It is up to the citizens of the world -- especially citizens of the United States, which has so impeded progress -- to mobilize and ensure that true solutions carry the day. I firmly believe that together, we can still achieve a politics in which climate justice prevails."

http://www.foe.org/friends-earth-us-reaction-sham-deal-requires-nothing-accomplishes-nothing

[ProSense]

16. They wanted a definitive (signed) agreement.

Friends of the Earth can make their call to action, but the fact is Obama put together a deal that is a starting point.

The next step is to pass Kerry-Boxer. Oh, FOE also recognizes that the administration is making some historic moves.

Obama Administration Makes Landmark Decision to Implement Clean Air Act

WASHINGTON, DC -- Friends of the Earth President Erich Pica had this statement in response to the EPA's finding that greenhouse gases threaten public health and the environment:

"The Obama administration's decision to comply with the Clean Air Act and move forward with a process that can lead to large reductions in greenhouse gas pollution is a major step forward in the fight to stabilize the climate.

"The timing of this finding is important, coinciding with the first day of crucial international climate negotiations in Copenhagen. What the finding demonstrates is that the Obama administration has the tools it needs to agree to, and implement, a strong and just international agreement; it does not need approval from a polluter-friendly Congress in order to act.

"There are some members of Congress who wish to use climate legislation to gut the Clean Air Act. Let's be clear: the Clean Air Act is a proven tool to successfully control air pollution. Friends of the Earth will vehemently oppose any congressional efforts to weaken this law and tie the hands of the Obama administration."

[Robeson]

12. The Guardian agrees...

John Sauven, executive director of Greenpeace UK, said: "The city of Copenhagen is a crime scene tonight, with the guilty men and women fleeing to the airport. Ed Miliband is among the very few that come out of this summit with any credit. It is now evident that beating global warming will require a radically different model of politics than the one on display here in Copenhagen."

Lydia Baker, Save the Children's policy adviser said: "By signing a sub-standard deal, world leaders have effectively signed a death warrant for many of the world's poorest children. Up to 250,000 children from poor communities could die before the next major meeting in Mexico at the end of next year."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/dec/18/copenhagen-deal

[MadMaddie]

13. The US actually particaped in the talks

if someone else was in the WH these talks wouldn't be making any progress at all.

[Phx_Dem]

20. Thank God, Indiana! Otherwise, you wouldn't be able to bitch about it.

And then I'd be sad for you.

[ChimpersMcSmirkers]

21. Yep, not only is Obama responsible for everything bad in this country, he's also

in charge of the world. Next up, the galaxy. All I know is that Obama better fix that problem on Panadora...