Stern In Bangkok - US Will Oppose Any Climate Treaty That Doesn't Include Every Nation

[hatrack]

NEW YORK — The United States said Wednesday it opposed a climate deal that does not bring aboard both wealthy and developing countries as feuding over nations' commitments dominated UN-led talks in Bangkok.

Todd Stern, the chief US climate envoy, said it was time to lay to rest the concept of a "firewall" between wealthy and developing countries that dates from the early 1990s -- before the rapid economic growth of China. "Many developing countries, including large ones, continue to be fixated on preserving the firewall between developed and developing countries," Stern told a conference in New York, in a likely reference to China.

"We see this as both unjustified and incompatible with solving the problem," he told the Bloomberg New Energy Finance Summit. "We are not going to be part of a new agreement with a fixed, bright-line, 1992-vintage firewall."

EDIT

While seeking an agreement that involves all major economies, the United States has played down the need for legally binding obligations. The United States has instead called for each nation to submit its own national plans -- a bottom-to-top approach that would carry political weight but not necessarily legal obligations to cut a set amount of emissions.

EDIT

http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5i37ApgkDX9MHCvTfuFursvHpPShw?docId=CNG.0fd5ca24210dab49ec38e5a6ecabe5eb.8f1

[XemaSab]

1. That's a way to kick the can down the road

Wait for Egypt, Libya, Southern Sudan, et al. to put forward their proposals first. :P

[Nihil]

2. Not even that - they're asking for *talks* about kicking the can down the road ...

> While seeking an agreement that involves all major economies, the United States
> has played down the need for legally binding obligations. The United States has
> instead called for each nation to submit its own national plans -- a bottom-to-top
> approach that would carry political weight but not necessarily legal obligations
> to cut a set amount of emissions.

Blah blah fucking blah.

:grr: