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Despite some progress on funding and compliance verification, there are
good reasons why we did not get a binding agreement on emissions
reductions at COP15.
Although Secretary of State Hilary Clinton
said Washington would help create a $100 billion a year climate aid
fund by 2020, the all important issue of detailed emissions reductions
remains unresolved.
China made concessions on a compliance mechanism, however, Swedish Environment Minister Andreas Carlgren, negotiating on behalf of the 27-nation European Union, blamed the impasse on the Chinese for "blocking again and again.''
Much
of the blame was directed towards President Obama, "President Obama was
not very proactive. He didn't offer anything more,'' said delegate Thomas Negints,
from Papua New Guinea. Negints said his country had hoped for "more on
emissions, put more money on the table, take the lead.''
Obama may eventually become known as "the man who killed Copenhagen,'' said Greenpeace US Executive Director Phil Radford.
Despite the harsh words directed at Obama, the lack of domestic support tied the President's hands at COP15. A recent Washington Post
article indicates that going into COP15 American support for Obama's
climate change policy was at an all time low, "his approval rating on
dealing with global warming crumbled at home and there is broad
opposition to spending taxpayer money to encourage developing nations
to curtail their energy use, according to a new Washington Post-ABC
News poll."
According to research from the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press,
despite the plethora of good science supporting anthropomorphic climate
change, only 57 percent of Americans think there is solid evidence the
world is getting warmer, down 20 points in just three years. Less
American's believe humans are the cause of global warming and fewer see
the situation as a serious problem. Only about a third, or 36 percent
of the respondents, feel that human activities are behind the
temperature increase. That's down from 47 percent from 2006.
People
living in the Midwest and mountainous areas of the West appear to have
ignored or disregarded climate change science. While those in the
Northeast and on the West Coast appear to appreciate the scope of the
dangers we face due to global warming.
In the US, scientific
understanding seems to slow just right of center. Three-quarters of
Democrats believe there is solid evidence for global warming, and
nearly half believe the problem is serious. Far fewer conservative and
moderate Democrats see the problem as grave. Fifty-seven percent of
Republicans say there is no solid evidence of global warming, up from
31 percent in early 2007.
In a democracy it is hard for the
executive or the legislature to act decisively in the absence of public
support. As with the health care debate, public relations firms and
lobby groups have managed to manipulate the facts and instill a sense
of uncertainty and confusion in the US.
The Chinese did not kill COP15, nor did President Obama, COP15 was undermined by the ignorance of the American people.
