“Copenhagen” is now the number one search query on the world’s leading Internet search engines. According to Treehugger.com, the position was taken over from American golf player Tiger Woods.
The figures show that “the global society is overwhelmingly interested” in the conference and also notes that other related terms like “climate change” and “global warming” are also ranking high, according to the web media source.
On the third day of the U. N. climate change summit Wednesday, statements by Su Wei, deputy head of the Chinese delegation to the climate change talks, on a perceived lack of ambition from the United States to make substantial efforts were opposed by Todd Stern, President Barack Obama’s climate change envoy, as he arrived Wednesday at the Copenhagen conference.
“The country whose emissions are going up dramatically, really dramatically, is China,” Todd Stern said, according to Bloomberg, adding that “there can’t be a new agreement without China.”
Su Wei said that the present target announced by the United States translates into a one percent cut below 1990 levels, adding that: “I’m not very good at English, but I doubt whether just a one percent reduction can be described as remarkable or notable.”
Todd Stern commented that the U.S. target -- a 17 percent cut by 2020 compared to 2005 -- is based on pending legislation.
“God willing, in the spring the United States will be able to report to the United Nations that our target is even higher,” Stern said, according to Bloomberg.
Stern also expressed support for a U.N. call for $10 billion to be provided internationally from 2010 to 2012 for short-term adaptation in vulnerable countries.
Also speaking Wednesday, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) administrator Lisa Jackson described her agency’s decision that greenhouse gases should be regulated as complementary to U.S. legislation — not an effort to supplant the work of Congress.
“This is not an either/or moment. This is a both/and moment,” she said.
The EPA on Monday gave the president a new way to cut back on greenhouse gas emissions when the agency determined that scientific evidence clearly shows they are endangering Americans’ health. That means the EPA could regulate those gases without the approval of the U.S. Congress.
The EPA decision was welcomed by other nations in Copenhagen that have called on the United States to boost its efforts to cut greenhouse gas emissions.
Jackson said the United States would take “reasonable efforts” and also “meaningful, common sense steps” to cut emissions, but didn’t provide any details.
Negotiators meanwhile worked to bridge the chasm between rich and poor countries over how to share the burden of fighting climate change, and envoy Todd Stern highlighted the Obama administration’s efforts to curb greenhouse emissions.
“We are under no illusion this is going to be easy,” Stern said. “But I think an agreement is there to be had if we do this right.”
Also, at a European Union summit in Brussels that will end Friday, Sweden, holding the E.U. rotating presidency, will push for clarity on what level of finance the member countries are ready to provide for adaptation in vulnerable countries over the next three years, according to BBC News.
The idea would be to announce the contribution now in order to add positive momentum to the ongoing U.N. negotiations in Copenhagen.
Both Sweden and Denmark announced their contributions this week, of 800 million ($1.17 billion) and 160 million euros ($235 million), respectively. The United Nations has called for international funding of $10 billion from 2010 to 2012.
The summit is also to address whether the E.U. should raise its present pledge to cut down greenhouse gas emissions by 20 percent by 2020.
According to the Danish daily Politiken, Mikolaj Dowgielewicz, Poland’s minister for European affairs, has insisted that the target “cannot be raised without a study on the economic consequences.”
Whatever the result of the debate, it is unlikely that any decision on the issue will be announced this week. The union is expected to hide its cards until high-level negotiations begin in Copenhagen next week.
Watch the NCR Ecology channel and the NCR Today group blog for updates on the Copenhagen climate conference.
[Rich Heffern is an NCR staff writer. His email: rheffern@ncronline.org]
