In Hawaii this week, the Bush administration will sit down with delegates from the world’s biggest greenhouse gas-polluting nations, with the advertised goal of continuing negotiations for a successor to the Kyoto Protocol, which expires in 2012.
This is the second such meeting hosted by the Bush administration. The first was held in Washington last september and drew harsh criticism for being nothing more than a front–a way for the administration to say it was leading a global effort to mitigate climate change without changing it’s no-show position in the least.
The administration, which held the U.S. out of the Kyoto Protocol, covered no new ground with that meeting and continued to drag its feet at the U.N.’s Bali climate conference in December, to the frustration and boos of delegates and environmentalists around the world. At Bali the E.U. threatened to boycott this week’s meeting in Hawaii, unless the U.S. gave ground on its opposition to suggested targets for emissions cuts.
The U.S. gave very little, if any, ground on the issue, and E.U. delegates withdrew their threat and will be in attendance in Hawaii. However, it seems unlikely that anything will come of this new round of meetings other than the Bush administration’s continued insistence on voluntary emissions cuts to be supplemented by an unspecified transfer of environmental technologies between developed and undeveloped nations.
Nonetheless, the two-day gathering will start in Honolulu Wednesday and will include representatives from Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Russia, South Africa, South Korea and the United Kingdom, as well as the United Nations and the European Union.
"The question back in September was, ‘Does the fact that they’re launching this process indicate some change in the position of this administration?"’ said Angela Anderson of the non-partisan Pew Environment Group.
The answer, Anderson said in an interview with Reuters, is no: "There has been no change in position whatsoever in this White House. They were hoping to sell their position to the rest of the world and that’s not working."
James Connaughton, the head of the White House Council on Environmental Quality, suggested the meetings were important working sessions, but did not say how they add to or support the U.N.-led discussions.
"I think these will be iterative discussions, which the initial goal will be to lay out a variety of options without holding any country to a particular proposal," Connaughton told reporters at a briefing last Friday. "We’re trying to do this in a collaborative way, rather than in the more classic ‘You bring your number, I bring my number, and we start kicking them around."
Connaughton would not say if Bush plans to discuss greenhouse emissions in tonight’s State of the Union address. If anything, expect more lip-service for energy independence tonight and a continued unwillingness to make specific commitments in Honolulu later in the week.
Hawaii Renewables Announcement
One major announcement does seem likely to come out of Hawaii this week. It was reported over the weekend that federal and state energy officials are planning a major investment in new technologies in an attempt to make Hawaii the nation’s first state to get "the vast majority" of its energy from renewable sources.
U.S. Department of Energy officials will likely announce the plan today, which is expected to solicit proposals from researchers and companies to significantly expand Hawaii’s use of solar and wind power and become a model for other states through the investment of millions of dollars for renewable energy.
The state already has mandated that electric companies produce 10% of their power from renewable sources by 2010 and 15% by 2015.
In addition to solar and wind resources the state has tremendous potential for wave, biomass and geothermal technologies. However, currently about 90% of the state’s energy comes from imported oil, and its gasoline prices are typically the highest in the nation, due to its isolation.
This week, Hawaii Governor Linda Lingle hinted about the program in her annual State of the State speech. The initiative, Lingle said, could position Hawaii "to be a model for the world" when it comes to renewable energy.
"The idea is to make Hawaii a model," said an Energy Department official who was not named. "If you can do it in Hawaii, you can figure out ways to do it all over the country."
Let’s cross our fingers.
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