climate change

Europe and China both came out this week asking the U.S. to do more than what is in their landmark climate change bill. As countries around the world prepare for the Copenhagen summit where global powers are poised to make pivotal agreements around goals and standards for dealing with climate change, the major powers and emissions producers are clamoring for position and relevance. Politics are by no means reserved to the halls of Washington, and long gone is the time when Washington and the U.S. could think of itself as an island in the midst of the climate change debate. The idea of not participating in the effort to battle the global environmental problems or of not coming out of Copenhagen as part of the agreement the way we did with Kyoto is unacceptable. Read more

The politics leading up the Copenhagen summit in December are fascinating. Major players like the EU, China, Russia and the United States are all jockeying for position, some playing a few cards, some holding them- and I’m sure there is some bluffing going on as we still have almost 6 months to go.

I wrote in Politics Report how the Democrat-sponsored climate change bill is still stalled in committees as lawmakers work to satisfy Democrats, and further satisfy Republican legislators whose votes are necessary to pass the bill through the House.

Russia rang in with a long-delayed play of their own.

The general guideline from green groups and developing nations has been a request that Industrialized nations cut their emissions 25-40% from 1990 levels, a number reached in reference to UN climate scientist panel suggested cuts. Read more