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According to a senior Obama administration official the United States, China, India and South Africa have reached a “meaningful agreement” on climate change Friday evening.
The official characterized the deal as a first step, but said it was not enough to combat the threat of a warming planet.
Details of the deal with these emerging economies were not immediately clear.
The agreement was reached Friday at the UN climate conference in Copenhagen after a meeting among President Barack Obama and Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and South African President Jacob Zuma.
[According to Dutch radio report, President Lula da Silva of Brazil and PM Zenawi of Ethiopia, as a representative of African states, were in on the agreement. Absent were the European Union and Russia – Oui]
(Chicago Tribune) – The limited agreement by the U.S., China, Brazil, India and South Africa reflected the intense political and economic obstacles that had blocked a binding accord to restrict emissions of “greenhouse gases” believed to be causing a dangerous warming of the Earth.
The accord calls for the participating countries to list specific actions they have taken to control emissions and the commitments they are willing to make to achieve deeper reductions.
There would be a method for verifying reductions of heat-trapping gases, a senior administration official said, speaking on the condition of anonymity before Obama made his comments.
Obama said the five nation’s pledges would be “subject to an international consultation” that will allow each country to “show the world what they’re doing.”
OBAMA RHETORIC WITH LITTLE TO OFFER
The U.S. commitment to reduce greenhouse gasses mirrors legislation before Congress. It calls for 17 percent reduction in such pollution from 2005 levels by 2020 — the equivalent of 3 percent to 4 percent from the more commonly used baseline of 1990 levels. That is far less than the offers from the European Union, Japan and Russia.
South Korea’s chief negotiator, Rae-Kwon Chung, said one of the sticking points was a clause saying the combined emissions of rich and poor countries should be cut in half by 2050. Some developing countries opposed that target, fearing it would “define their carbon space,” he said, declining to identify them.
With the climate talks in disarray, President Obama and Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao met twice Friday — once privately and once with other world leaders present — in hopes of sweeping aside some of the disputes that have barred a final deal.
Inhofe’s Big Trip to Copenhagen to Rail Against Global Warming ‘Hoax’ Only Lasts Two Hours
"But I will not let myself be reduced to silence."