Why are climate negotiators meeting in Cancun, Mexico this week? What can we expect from this round of negotiations? What steps can the United States and other countries take to fight climate change if a deal isn’t reached? CAP’s Andrew Light explains in this cross-posted video:
— Andrew Light is a Senior Fellow at American Progress specializing in climate, energy, and science policy.
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I have to disagree with the general thrust of Andrew’s final conclusion. If no deal is reached in Cancun, then there is a possibility that more bilateral and multilateral dealmaking (within the G20, MEF, and other forums) will ensue, and yes, the MEF and G20 may be able to reach agreement more easily. However, it would be very naive to think that the agreements reached in these forums would be remotely adequate to address the scale of the problem. The reason is obvious: the countries pushing for ambitious action (LDCs, Africa, and AOSIS) are not represented in these groups outside the UNFCCC.
The fact of the matter is that the US has absolutely nothing to offer the world in terms of action, credibility, or leadership. Even India, one of the scapegoats of Copenhagen, has offered a proposal for an accountability mechanism for developing country mitigation actions – a proposal that Annex I countries have spoken of quite favorably. The US, on the hand, probably cannot even achieve its meagre Copenhagen Accord commitments. If the world’s largest historical emitter can’t get its act together, it makes it very difficult to get the rest of the major emitters, particularly China, to do all that is necessary.
This process is without question complicated and cumbersome. But its the participants, and one participant in particular, that’s holding back process.
Not sure we can expect much from this round, but we can expect the usual myths and half-truths in response to the event:
http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=40320
Sad.