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Climate Diplomacy: President Obama must focus on getting other nations to cut their emissions.
http://www.technologyreview.com/view/518371/climate-diplomacy/[font face=Serif][font size=5]Climate Diplomacy[/font]
[font size=4]President Obama must focus on getting other nations to cut their emissions.[/font]
By David G. Victor on August 21, 2013
[font size=3]In June, President Obama broke several years of near silence on how the United States would address climate change. That he did so is notable, but the new plan is mostly the same as the old plan, centered on promoting efficiency and cleaner technologies. Practically nobody is talking about the most important test for Obama’s climate strategy: how it will affect the strategies of other nations.
In 1990, when global warming first rose to prominence as an international issue, the United States could unilaterally set the tone for the world. America was undisputed leader of the global economy and the world’s biggest polluter. Since then, the U.S. share of all gas emissions that cause global warming has dropped from 16 percent to 13 percent. U.S. emissions are now falling, while those from most of the rest of the world, notably China, grow rapidly. Today the global problem is much harder for the U.S. to manage just by changing its policies at home.
The key question for President Obama is whether his new policy can have any impact on other countries. So far, the answer is probably no. U.S. credibility has suffered from the perception that this country is good at criticizing schemes to cut global emissions, such as the Kyoto Protocol, but not very talented at creating alternatives that actually work.
Other countries now understand that political gridlock in Washington makes it hard for American diplomats to promise them anything like backing for a global treaty to cut emissions. It is telling that the new climate plan outlined by President Obama relied mainly on regulatory and funding actions he can take alone, rather than new legislation that would require help from Congress.
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[font size=4]President Obama must focus on getting other nations to cut their emissions.[/font]
By David G. Victor on August 21, 2013
[font size=3]In June, President Obama broke several years of near silence on how the United States would address climate change. That he did so is notable, but the new plan is mostly the same as the old plan, centered on promoting efficiency and cleaner technologies. Practically nobody is talking about the most important test for Obama’s climate strategy: how it will affect the strategies of other nations.
In 1990, when global warming first rose to prominence as an international issue, the United States could unilaterally set the tone for the world. America was undisputed leader of the global economy and the world’s biggest polluter. Since then, the U.S. share of all gas emissions that cause global warming has dropped from 16 percent to 13 percent. U.S. emissions are now falling, while those from most of the rest of the world, notably China, grow rapidly. Today the global problem is much harder for the U.S. to manage just by changing its policies at home.
The key question for President Obama is whether his new policy can have any impact on other countries. So far, the answer is probably no. U.S. credibility has suffered from the perception that this country is good at criticizing schemes to cut global emissions, such as the Kyoto Protocol, but not very talented at creating alternatives that actually work.
Other countries now understand that political gridlock in Washington makes it hard for American diplomats to promise them anything like backing for a global treaty to cut emissions. It is telling that the new climate plan outlined by President Obama relied mainly on regulatory and funding actions he can take alone, rather than new legislation that would require help from Congress.
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