I'm a couple days late on this report, but since it doesn't seem to be getting much coverage on the U.S. news networks, more than likely you haven't heard. The U.N. climate talks finally closed, 36 hours beyond its original scheduled close, and a deal was finally reached. I looked on all of the major news networks here in the U.S. for any hint of what happened with the talks. The last story I could find was reported on last Friday saying the talks were in danger of failing.
Sunday morning, however, I came across the BBC report and it contained the news I was looking for. Lo and behold, it was also good news. Not the best, but still much better than I was thinking. The final deal still pushes back any enactment of new standards to 2020. New standards will begin to be developed next year through negotiations of all the nations, which will conclude in 2015. This is a laborious process, I understand, but it would have been supreme news if they really kicked it in high gear and brought the dates closer to this point in time, instead of 8 years down the road.
The deal that was reached seems to be what the EU, AOSIS, and LDC were asking other countries to sign onto. There was much haggling over wording and some of the big emitters did not want to be held to a firm standard. However, others stepped in to help these nations realize the importance of a "legal force" to the upcoming standards treaty. One of my favorite quotes from the BBC report is Grenada Foreign Minister, Karl Hood (he was speaking on behalf of AOSIS - Alliance of Small Island States):
This climate conference was difficult to follow. It was almost like watching the U.S. Congress. Our leaders need to realize that this approaching crisis of climate change is about life. You can't score political points on this if you don't want to do anything about it, because when the climate disasters start hitting the region you represent, those citizens will leave you high and dry to fend for yourself. World and government leaders need to stop this "run-out-the-clock" BS. The negotiations for new standards must begin now and must be comprehensive. No stalling until 2015. We just don't have that kind of time left. The deal was good, but if we want it to stay good, we must see world leaders "put" their "courage to the sticking place."
Sunday morning, however, I came across the BBC report and it contained the news I was looking for. Lo and behold, it was also good news. Not the best, but still much better than I was thinking. The final deal still pushes back any enactment of new standards to 2020. New standards will begin to be developed next year through negotiations of all the nations, which will conclude in 2015. This is a laborious process, I understand, but it would have been supreme news if they really kicked it in high gear and brought the dates closer to this point in time, instead of 8 years down the road.
The deal that was reached seems to be what the EU, AOSIS, and LDC were asking other countries to sign onto. There was much haggling over wording and some of the big emitters did not want to be held to a firm standard. However, others stepped in to help these nations realize the importance of a "legal force" to the upcoming standards treaty. One of my favorite quotes from the BBC report is Grenada Foreign Minister, Karl Hood (he was speaking on behalf of AOSIS - Alliance of Small Island States):
If there is no legal instrument by which we can make countries responsible for their actions, then we are relegating countries to the fancies of beautiful words, while they develop, we die; and why should we accept this?That is an exact statement. It is a true and heartfelt statement and it made all the nations in that big conference room confront the elephant in their midst. I also was very glad to see other nations - including China - reprimanding the Western countries for not doing more on their part to reduce emissions, the U.S. at the forefront. It almost turned into, "Why should we have to lower our emissions if they don't?", but cooler, more reasonable heads prevailed.
This climate conference was difficult to follow. It was almost like watching the U.S. Congress. Our leaders need to realize that this approaching crisis of climate change is about life. You can't score political points on this if you don't want to do anything about it, because when the climate disasters start hitting the region you represent, those citizens will leave you high and dry to fend for yourself. World and government leaders need to stop this "run-out-the-clock" BS. The negotiations for new standards must begin now and must be comprehensive. No stalling until 2015. We just don't have that kind of time left. The deal was good, but if we want it to stay good, we must see world leaders "put" their "courage to the sticking place."
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