U.S. holds cards close at climate talks

By Elisabeth Rosenthal
(Bonn)

Published April 9, 2009 in the International Herald Tribune

Earlier this month, U.S representative Jonathan Pershing, deputy special envoy for climate change gave new hints on the new policies adopted by the Obama government concerning climate destabilization. A detailed proposal would be submitted by the end of the month. One of the major goals of the new policies is to reduce emissions to the 1990 levels by 2020. Mr. Pershing praised the EU's efforts and proposals on the subject but doesn’t believe that the United States will follow the same path. This is mainly due to different political and social capacities, and this could slow down the proposals as well as the immediate actions. While Pershing and his administration were short on figures and proposals in Bonn, they promised to return in June with a solid plan. However, the public has been told that numbers of how much emissions would be reduced by and by when, should not be expected by this summer. They will be determined later by Congress. This is the first appearance of the Obama administration in a global climate meeting and some were disappointed of the United states' unpreparedness. However, we should note that the United States has declined any kind of plan or proposal for the past 8 years, under the Bush administration, concerning the reduction of greenhouse gases. The plan to reduce emissions back to the 1990 levels was not enough for some developing countries, and they proposed to have the United States reduce their emissions by 48% by 2022. The U.N is waiting on the United States' decision and are impatient to see which side the US adopts.