'BE A LITTLE PATIENT'

  [Het Parool, The Netherlands]

 

 

NRC Handelsblad, The Netherlands

Obama's 'Sobering Step Backward' on Climate Talks

 

"American leadership is not strong enough to pull other nations across the finish line. And yet it must."

 

EDITORIAL

 

Translated By Meta Mertens

 

November 17, 2009

 

The Netherlands - NRC Handelsblad - Original Article (Dutch)

Three weeks before the start of the climate conference in Copenhagen, the most important participants have drastically dampened expectations. In coming decades, there will be no lack of good intentions to reduce CO2 emissions. But those intentions will not be encapsulated in a comprehensive treaty.

 

This sobering news came last weekend from Singapore, where the leaders of APEC [the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum] had gathered. After consultation with his counterparts Hu of China and Medvedev of Russia, among others, U.S. President Obama concluded that a binding agreement is unattainable. That's no surprise. In anticipation of such an atmosphere, U.N. climate talks supervisor, Dutchman Yvo de Boer, expressed the hope in this newspaper on Saturday, that a general agreement in Copenhagen could be converted into legally-binding treaty within six months.

 

 

This step backward by Obama is painful - also for him. Contrary to his predecessor Bush, who was skeptical about global warming and therefore saw no purpose in global climate control, Obama does recognize a need for action. But now he, too, must accept that the gap between talk and action is greater than previously thought. 

Posted by WORLDMEETS.US

 

That insight isn't only being imposed on him by the Senate, which is in no hurry to debate the CO2 reduction bill that was passed by the House of Representatives. American leadership is not strong enough to pull other nations across the finish line.

 

And yet it must. Without cooperation from emerging powers like China, India and Brazil, there cannot be a global policy. The Dutch saying, “Change the world, start with yourself” has no real meaning in the globe of today.

 

This doesn't mean that these newly industrialized powers should be written off - particularly China and India, which have abandoned the argument that they'll only reduce emissions when their standard of living matches American and European levels. They do, however, want fair reciprocation. That applies even more so to the other developing countries.

Posted by WORLDMEETS.US

 

This reality must be seen. There's no choice. That need not be a catastrophe. In any case, no one is looking for an agreement that appears binding on paper but in actuality is not. The fate of the 1997 Kyoto Protocol deserves no repetition.

 

Europe can seize the initiative and set a global standard that forces other countries to respond. Because the worst would be an atmosphere in Copenhagen in which everyone is waiting for everyone else to act.

 

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[Posted by WORLDMEETS.US November 18, 3:27pm]