Climate change debate began yesterday in the U.S. Senate and in Bonn, Germany, where a new round of negotiations began among 162 nations seeking to create a successor agreement to the Kyoto Protocol.
On Capitol Hill, Senators voted 74-14 to bring debate on the Lieberman-Warner climate change bill to the Senate floor. The bill calls for cutting greenhouse gas emissions in the U.S. by roughly 66% below current levels by 2050.
The bill is not likely to pass the Senate this year. Opponents say the bill would severely damage the U.S. economy, while proponents say it will create new markets and green jobs and only slightly decrease the U.S. Gross Domestic Product. Reuters reported that as many as 20 Senators are uncommitted on the bill.
President Bush criticized the bill before the Senate vote, saying it would cost the U.S. economy $6 trillion dollars. He vowed to veto it, should it pass through Congress in its current form.
In a statement that is laughable in context of U.S. war debt accrued under the current administration, Bush said, "I urge the Congress to be very careful about running up enormous costs for future generations of Americans."
Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA), Chairman of the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works, responded to the president’s statement.
"Just when we finally have a chance to get off of Big Oil and foreign oil, you can count on the Bush Administration to fight us every step of the way," Boxer said.
A climate change bill is not likely to pass until a new administration enters the White House.
Bonn Negotiations
In Germany, more than 2,000 delegates kicked off a two-week meeting yesterday to continue searching for compromises between developing nations and rich nations that will allow for a world-wide climate change treaty to pick up in 2012 where the Kyoto Protocol ends.
The meeting began with a statement from developing nations asserting that global warming is already negatively affecting millions of people around the globe, as scientists have warned.
Later, Yvo de Boer, the United Nation’s top climate official said, "The critical issue will be financial engineering," referring to the need for developed countries to assist poorer nations in developing clean-power technologies and respond to the effects of climate change, while doing the same at home.
De Boer told the Associated Press that by 2030 the world will need to spend $200 billion to $300 billion a year to contain global warming and help developing nations adapt to changing climate conditions.
Several proposals to raise these funds will be discussed over the next two weeks, though no major agreements are expected.
The biggest issues are being saved until next year, when delegates expect a new U.S. president to be more supportive of the negotiation process. However, this will leave a tight schedule for finding an agreement before the December 2009 deadline set by the negotiating group in January.
At least seven more large meetings will take place over the next 18 months, leading up to a final meeting in Copenhagen.
Bill Hare, a scientist for Greenpeace, said in the half year since negotiators met in Bali, Indonesia, the outlook on global warming has worsened. New reports say ice is melting at a record rate in Greenland and Antarctica, he said, and droughts in Australia, Ukraine and Russia have cut into food production.
"The negotiators here are gathering under a darkening cloud," Hare said. "The level of ambition is far too low."
Loading...