U.S. Aims for Legally Binding Climate Change Agreement in 2010

The U.S. said it wants to reach a legally binding climate-change agreement at a summit in Mexico in December, a sign President Barack Obama hasn’t given up the fight for a global accord to limit greenhouse gases

By Alex Morales | Bloomberg | Feb. 22, 2010

The pact should cover “all major economies,” and include elements from the non-binding Copenhagen Accord made in December, the State Department said in a letter released today by the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, or UNFCCC.

With China and India resisting mandatory curbs on their emissions and legislation in the U.S. outlining domestic commitments stalled in the Senate, Obama is attempting to keep the talks alive. A two-year push for a treaty ended in December with a voluntary deal that wasn’t accepted by all of the 193 nations present.

“Mexico is an ambitious time frame, but a year later it’s very possible,” Saleemul Huq, head of climate change at the London-based International Institute for Environment and Development said today in a telephone interview.

The fight against global warming has been beset in recent months by the failure of the UNFCCC to secure a treaty in Copenhagen and the resignation last week of its chief diplomat, Yvo de Boer. Impediments to a legally binding deal include the lack of a U.S. domestic law and a reluctance of India and China to adopt mandatory emissions targets.

Treaty Ambitions

A treaty would provide clarity about future greenhouse gas emissions caps for the carbon markets. UN carbon credits have fallen 13 percent since the start of the Copenhagen meeting, which was aiming to set limits for emissions of carbon dioxide after 2012.

Today, the U.S. said portions of the Copenhagen Accord should be used for the eventual agreement in Mexico, along with some of the UN’s official negotiating texts, including one on forestry that reflected “emerging consensus.”

Obama took office last year pledging to enact a cap-and trade law to reduce output of carbon dioxide, blamed for damaging the environment. Legislation passed by the House of Representatives, which would cut emissions by 17 percent by 2020, has stalled in the Senate, where the Democrats lost a seat last month. Senator Dianne Feinstein, a California Democrat, has said “a large cap-and-trade bill isn’t going to go ahead this time.”

China’s Position

China has said it would take efforts to reduce emissions per unit of economic output by 40 percent to 45 percent in 2020 from 2005, and India pledged an “intensity” cut of 20 percent to 25 percent over the same period.

“If the U.S. were to come with domestic legislation in place, I think the Chinese and the Indians would be prepared to come forward and agree to something legally binding,” Huq said. “They won’t be happy -- they’ll negotiate -- but I think they’ll eventually sign up.”

The UN has said the Copenhagen Accord has no legal-standing within the treaty negotiations because it wasn’t accepted by consensus and that any future agreement should be based on official negotiating documents.

De Boer, who tried for two years to get a treaty agreed, said last week in an interview that “while Copenhagen was a disappointment in a formal sense, in a political step it was an incredibly important push forward.” In January, he said it “remains to be seen” whether the two-week Mexican meeting, which starts Nov. 29, will produce a legal text.

Over the past month, countries including Mexico, China and India have said more negotiating sessions need to be organized prior to the Cancun summit, in additional to an already- scheduled mid-year conference in June. In today’s letter, the U.S. said smaller gatherings were preferable.

“A key lesson of 2009 is that significant negotiating time is less important in reaching agreement than providing adequate time for countries to consult with each other bilaterally and regionally,” the letter said.

To contact the reporter on this story: Alex Morales in London atamorales2@bloomberg.net

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