Senior Administration Official Heralds “Significant Breakthrough” at Copenhagen
EmailA senior administration official, speaking to ABC News, heralded what he called a “significant breakthrough” at the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen this afternoon.
President Barack Obama, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and South African President Jacob Zuma have agreed to a political “accord” that the official said will “provide the foundation for an eventual legally binding treaty.”
In the accord, the official said, “nations will list their actions and stand behind them.”
The Chinese have for weeks been reluctant to agree to ways for the international community to verify that they’re abiding by pledges to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. But today Chinese officials agreed to report to an international mechanism, the official said.
“For the first time these emerging economies have agreed to take significant action to combat climate change,” the official said, adding that the leaders of the four nations have agreed to the core components President Obama laid out in his address this morning upon arriving in Denmark –mitigation, transparency, and financing.
He defined “mitigation” as every major economy putting forward “decisive national actions that will reduce their emissions, and begin to turn the corner on climate change.” The US goal is to reduce greenhouse gas emissions “in the range of 17 percent by 2020, and by more than 80 percent by 2050 in line with final legislation.”
Transparency, he defined as having “a mechanism to review whether we are keeping our commitments, and exchange this information in a transparent manner. These measures need not be intrusive, or infringe upon sovereignty. They must, however, ensure that an accord is credible, and that we're living up to our obligations.” An agreement without that would “be a hollow victory,” he said.
Third, the president pushed the world’s wealthier economies to help “developing countries adapt, particularly the least developed and most vulnerable countries to climate change.”
The White House has been working on getting sign-off from the group of developing nations known as the G-77 by working with Ethiopia's Prime Minister Meles Zinawi, the official said.
-jpt
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Spin, spin, spin. Informed citizens know better.
Posted by: tjp612 | December 18, 2009, 4:22 pm 4:22 pm
There ia a Yiddish word “Narishkeit”, pronounced (nar-ish-kite) .It refers to the act of foolishness or “nothingness”. Copenhagen, is the mystical world of pontificating self- righteous masters of ignis fatuus where the King of Nothingness, Barrack Obama and his band of Oompa-Loompas deny the very falsities of their own invention. The lesson of man made global warming, climate change, etc. is; when politics, funding, and science are combined the loser is Science.
Posted by: pauldia | December 18, 2009, 4:31 pm 4:31 pm
“Informed” people anywhere wouldn’t use the word spin in that fashion. It’s about as woefully simple-minded as ‘political capital’.
Posted by: Jerome | December 18, 2009, 4:43 pm 4:43 pm
Perhaps these guys have decided that they will, again, attempt to build the tower of Babal.
Posted by: david | December 18, 2009, 4:48 pm 4:48 pm
Watching the Copenhagen vid in the background while I work. Waiting for them to announce what the ‘finally’ came up with.
I posted a number of times I found it difficult to believe that Obama would go to Cop15 without something already worked out (or close to it).
It seems that Obama is unwilling to give very much. 17% reduction based on 2005 instead of 1990 (Which is what all the other countries are doing).
That is basically a 4% reduction from 1990. Hmmm… scientists say the US must give a 20-40% reduction (or something like that).
Wow… Obama sounds more and more like Bush everyday.
Posted by: Denbo | December 18, 2009, 4:54 pm 4:54 pm
“A senior administration official, speaking to ABC News, heralded what he called a “significant breakthrough” at the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen this afternoon.”
It’s a Festivus miracle!
Posted by: Live! From DC! It's Sat Night! | December 18, 2009, 4:58 pm 4:58 pm
‘Meaningful’ Climate Deal
Said to Fall Short of Goals
Senior Obama official calls last-minute agreement at Copenhagen summit ‘first step’ on climate change
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Obama and media trying anything now to make this look like something
Posted by: welcome to Obamaville,the fastest growing homeless community | December 18, 2009, 4:58 pm 4:58 pm
>>“developing countries adapt, particularly the least developed and most vulnerable countries to climate change.”<<
How is one country "more vulnerable" to climate change? What total BS.
Posted by: W. Axl Rose | December 18, 2009, 5:30 pm 5:30 pm
How is one country “more vulnerable” to climate change? What total BS.
________________________________
Of course there are many studies done on this. Immediately the low-lying islands and countries are vulnerable because of the rises in sea levels – (see the Maldives). And other countries have shown noticeable shifts – Australia experiencing record hot summer temperatures and wildfires, rain patterns shifting and creating more desert areas in some countries .. . and so on.
Posted by: tierra | December 18, 2009, 6:44 pm 6:44 pm
Since both sides of Cap & Trade, Healthcare, Immigration, et al., say they have majority support and if these initiatives are truly demanded by that majority, majority will rule.
However, in the alternative if a majority doesn’t want these initiatives and they are propounded upon them anyway? The majority still prevails even if that means the expense for these programs being rescinded and stopped in their proverbial tracks.
Historically there has never been a minority sociology that will dictate to majority sociology no matter what the issue in a free country and there is no chance of America not being a free country.
I’m sensing a bit of this lately.
Posted by: Tina | December 18, 2009, 6:53 pm 6:53 pm
tierra,there has been no appreciable sea level rise in recent years. The Maldives are not in trouble aside from natural erosion.Atolls arise on sinking volcanoes-Midway used to be an island like Oahu,but now it is just the “Cheshire Cat” coral remnant.It will eventually disappear.If the entire polar icecap would melt how much would the sea level rise?The point is that there is absolutely no evidence that any climatic variation seen in recorded history has been due to anything but natural effects.We have just learned that the CRU has been selectively using biased Russian temperature data, omitting non-urban temperature sites. This should be no suprise- Dr. Mann’s Hockey Stick is based on selected Yamal tree ring data,ignoring conflicting data in the same series.What is fascinating is that the Russian authors noted that the Yamal tree line was further north during the MWP than it is now.How is that compatable with the Mann hypothesis?
Posted by: Nephron | December 18, 2009, 8:27 pm 8:27 pm