Jeers to Cheers: U.S. Yields on Climate Plan

Dec. 15, 2007 — -- It is a significant first step.

After two weeks of emotional talks, the international community has agreed on a roadmap for negotiating a new treaty on climate change by 2009.

"It gives the world an opportunity -- but not a guarantee -- that we will reach an agreement within two years that is up to the task of preventing dangerous global warming," says Daniel Lashof, deputy director of the climate center at the National Resources Defense Council.

The agreement says "deep cuts" in global emissions are urgently needed. But the hard part -- securing specific commitments from individual countries to reduce emissions -- is still to come.

Still, even getting to this point was a challenge.

The Bush administration originally opposed the deal, arguing there must be a greater commitment from developing countries such as China and India. The United States is currently the world's greatest producer of greenhouse gases, but China and India are projected to surpass it.

But that opposition met with boos and loud protests.

"There's an old saying: If you're not willing to lead, then get out of the way," said Kevin Conrad, the envoy from Papua New Guinea.

Eventually -- in a rare shift -- the United States backed down.

All this comes as the Bush administration is facing growing pressure at home and abroad to move more aggressively to combat climate change.

Public awareness of the issue is up, thanks in part to "An Inconvenient Truth," the Oscar-winning movie featuring former Vice President Al Gore -- who also won the Nobel Peace Prize.

Last spring, the Supreme Court ruled that greenhouse gases are pollutants, and that the Environmental Protection Agency had the authority to regulate emissions from cars. And Congress is currently moving forward with legislation to cap emissions.

"U.S. policy is shifting, and it's shifting at all levels," says Lashof.

The administration's concession in Bali came after the European Union threatened to boycott a scheduled conference next month in Hawaii.

Still, the United States succeeded in removing language from the agreement that would have called for industrialized nations to reduce emissions by 25 to 40 percent by 2020.

And in a statement issued Saturday, the White House said that while many aspects of the Bali agreement are positive, it still has "serious concerns."

"[T]he problem of climate change cannot be adequately addressed through commitments for emissions cuts by developed countries alone," the statement said. "Major developing economies must likewise act."