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World Leaders Delay Climate Change Agreement

By Maya Schenwar, t r u t h o u t

Sunday 15 November 2009

World leaders, including President Obama, have decided to postpone reaching a legally binding climate change agreement for a year or more, officially derailing the most important goal of next month's Copenhagen conference.

The delay was agreed upon at a breakfast in Singapore this morning. Leaders determined that, instead of a binding treaty, they would aim for a looser "political" agreement, and would put off "contentious decisions on emissions targets, financing and technology transfer," according to The Guardian UK.

The Copenhagen conference was originally viewed as a chance to sculpt a successor to the Kyoto Protocol; a treaty that would set definitive emissions limits and other aggressive measures to curb rising global temperatures.

Today's deferral plan points to the stark differences - especially between rich and poor countries - that might stall the passage of such a treaty.

For more information on the postponement of the climate treaty, read The New York Times report here.

  

Comments

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I'm not terribly surprised,

 Sun, 11/15/2009 - 19:32 — elizabeth (not verified)
I'm not terribly surprised, this has been in the wind for weeks now. But, to be fair, the Bush years pushed us backwards, and it will take time for the US to be a position of leadership again to deal effectively with the issue. (Especially with a Congress made up of 75 percent ignorant, bribed IDIOTS.) I hope Obama is changing his mind however on making an appearance in Copenhagan, His appearance is, to my mind, crucial to the world understanding that the US is serious about this, that it really is just a year's delay and that he's not going to go to Oslo to get his props without doing his job on the way by making a crucial appearance in Copenhagen. Obama cannot underestimate his role as a symbol in the world, nor ignore that THIS is his most important Constitutional duty per Article II. And then, in the coming year, let's resurrect the original DC charter so we can kick corporate lobbyists off K Street and Capitol Hill and shut that damn revolving door. Let them hang out in Northern Virginia with hired hands who are not retired members of Congress or their former staffers. The silver lining of the health-care fiasco: EVERYONE knows about K Street now. It is still misunderstood by many voters, but not as many as before, and the tide is finally shifting against it. Which is crucial to future health care debate as well as shutting the mouths and pocketbocks of the fossil fuels industry.

Good thing it has been

 Mon, 11/16/2009 - 04:11 — Anonymous (not verified)
Good thing it has been delayed cause the talks will amount to what I always believed: a big fat zero. You heard me zero. Every time conferences are up, such talk produces nothing. And if it did, well then, it will not be for the benefit of certain countries at all. China and India are fast growing economies which will supersede ANY idiot policy making from these conferences. In fact, I will hedge my bet that if we really do implement such large policies on natives within the first world countries people will NOT tolerate it anymore longer. Forget the Climate Change Agreements, and let us focus on our nation and their nations: economy trumps any climate change agreements because without economic growth you will be having very large sections of the population unemployed. Second deal with all large corporations by breaking them up to pieces through the Sherman Ant-Trust Act. Place a very hard cap on the growth of the company for all sectors of the economy. And lastly, federal government must be able to prosecute not only the corporate fiends, but also its self has well. Through all of this maybe then we could find solutions to the Climate Change Agreements. Until then, it will have zero impact and cause more strife rather than stability.