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Author Topic: How America plotted to stop Kyoto deal
Transplant
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Babbler # 9960

posted 08 December 2005 03:44 PM      Profile for Transplant     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
How America plotted to stop Kyoto deal

Independent - A detailed and disturbing strategy document has revealed an extraordinary American plan to destroy Europe's support for the Kyoto treaty on climate change.

The ambitious, behind-the-scenes plan was passed to The Independent this week, just as 189 countries are painfully trying to agree the second stage of Kyoto at the UN climate conference in Montreal. It was pitched to companies such as Ford Europe, Lufthansa and the German utility giant RWE.

Put together by a lobbyist who is a senior official at a group partly funded by ExxonMobil, the world's biggest oil company and a fierce opponent of anti-global warming measures, the plan seeks to draw together major international companies, academics, think-tanks, commentators, journalists and lobbyists from across Europe into a powerful grouping to destroy further EU support for the treaty. ...


From: Free North America | Registered: Jul 2005  |  IP: Logged
Cougyr
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posted 08 December 2005 05:25 PM      Profile for Cougyr     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
Depressing, isn't it. Big money is protecting itself, and screw the rest of us.
From: over the mountain | Registered: Nov 2002  |  IP: Logged
Contrarian
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 6477

posted 09 December 2005 02:17 PM      Profile for Contrarian     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
Meanwhile, the US has officially complained about Martin's comments The CBC story doesn't say exactly what remarks the US is mad about. Nor does this CBC report on what Martin said.

The Independent has Martin's words that probably made the US mad, plus some about the hypocrisy of the US rep:

quote:
...At a briefing on Wednesday, the senior US official, Paula Dobriansky, the undersecretary of state for global affairs, declared: "We firmly believe negotiations will not reap progress ... We have concerns about formalised discussions that provide a basis for negotiations. We believe progress cannot be made that way."

She said this while maintaining with a straight face that the US - which accounts for 25 per cent of the world's greenhouse gas emissions - was acting as a beacon to the rest of the planet when it came to tackling climate change. "We lead the world in climate change science - $2bn (£1.14bn) this year," she said.

Such an unwillingness to participate has led to criticism from other countries. The Canadian Prime Minister, Paul Martin, said: "To the reluctant countries, including the US, I said this: there is a such a thing as a global conscience and this is the time to listen to it. There is absolutely no excuse for any more delay for action."...


Guardian says talks in Montreal are going sour.

quote:
...Today, the former cabinet minister, Stephen Byers, who now chairs an International Climate Change Taskforce, warned negotiators in Montreal not to let the US dictate terms or block progress.

The group has the backing of several US mayors and governors, taking unilateral action despite the opposition of the federal government, and is calling for a realistic target of only allowing global temperatures to rise by an average of two degrees to be set...


Independent report on the same story.

The US envoys are also ticked off that Clinton is to speak at the conference.

Meanwhile the Inuit are getting it right:

quote:
People living in the Arctic have filed a legal petition against the US government, saying its climate change policies violate human rights.

The Inuit Circumpolar Conference (ICC) claims the US is failing to control emissions of greenhouse gases, damaging livelihoods in the Arctic.

Its petition to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights demands that the US limits its emissions...


[ 09 December 2005: Message edited by: Contrarian ]


From: pretty far west | Registered: Jul 2004  |  IP: Logged
Contrarian
rabble-rouser
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posted 11 December 2005 02:49 PM      Profile for Contrarian     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
Other thread about US being pissed off at Martin, and at Clinton, etc.

At least the nations have agreed to keep talking which is hopeful.

quote:
At a time when scientists have been bringing us grim new climatic tidings almost every day, the news that the world's leaders have agreed to sit down to talk about the dangers that our planet faces is encouraging, to say the least....

...Of particular note is the agreement of India and China, the world's two new industrial superpowers, to play an active part in future negotiations...

...As Alan Thorpe, head of Britain's Natural Environment Research Council, has made clear: 'What the world needs badly are are talks about taking urgent action. So far, all we have had are talks about having more talks. If we keep that up, things are going to get pretty desperate around the world fairly soon.'...



From: pretty far west | Registered: Jul 2004  |  IP: Logged
Contrarian
rabble-rouser
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posted 11 December 2005 05:54 PM      Profile for Contrarian     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
The Independent is very optimistic on the results of the Montreal Conference:
quote:
The fight against catastrophic global warming scored its greatest success to date yesterday, when negotiators from more than 180 nations unexpectedly agreed to develop far-reaching measures to combat climate change.

In the process, the delegates to the climate summit in Montreal dealt a humiliating blow to President George Bush's five-year attempt to destroy the Kyoto Protocol. The United States, which tried to sabotage the meeting at the last minute by walking out of the negotiations, was forced to join the agreement after failing to persuade a single nation to join it...

...The atmosphere at the Montreal meeting was far more determined to reach agreement than either the US or its bitterest critics had expected, following a year of constant, alarming evidence that climate change is happening far faster than scientists had predicted...



From: pretty far west | Registered: Jul 2004  |  IP: Logged
Contrarian
rabble-rouser
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posted 13 December 2005 03:41 PM      Profile for Contrarian     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
New York Times editorial:
quote:
...At least the Americans' shameful foot-dragging did not bring the entire process to a complete halt, and for this the other industrialized countries, chiefly Britain and Canada, deserve considerable praise. It cannot be easy for America's competitors to move forward with costly steps to reduce greenhouse gas emissions while the United States refuses to carry its share of the load...

...But talk is cheap, and nonbinding talk is even cheaper. And talk alone will not get the developing world into the game. Why should India and China make major sacrifices while the United States, in effect, gets a free ride? The battle against global warming will never be won unless America joins it, urgently and enthusiastically. Our grandchildren will look back with anger and astonishment if we fail to do so.



From: pretty far west | Registered: Jul 2004  |  IP: Logged

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