The Opposite of Helpful

Posted on 14. Nov, 2009 by Ben Jervey in U.S.A.

With barely over three weeks to go before the Copenhagen talks kick off, a message like this carried in a Washington Post headline strikes me as the exact opposite of helpful:

“White House considering shift to more limited, short-term climate pact.”

The article explains that the Obama administration is considering throwing its support behind a scaled-down, short term “interim” pact that would put off the heavy lifting of hammering out a legally-binding deal for next year, presumably after the domestic climate and energy politics shake out. Todd Stern, the US special envoy for climate change did his best to emphasize that such a shift in focus should not be interpreted as a watering down of US commitment: “An interim, operational deal is not meant to be seen as a substitute for a real agreement…It’s meant to be seen as substantive building blocks to a full, legal agreement, and perhaps the best chance of getting such an agreement.” That’ll certainly be a tough sell to an international community who has already grown very impatient with the United States, who are widely believed to be the biggest obstacle to a binding resolution.

These statements come just days after President Obama fanned a bit of his trademark hope onto the cooling embers of COP15 expectations when he said that he’d go to Copenhagen if he thought his presence would help secure a deal. “If I am confident that all the countries involved are bargaining in good faith and we are on the brink of a meaningful agreement and my presence in Copenhagen will make a difference in tipping us over edge, then certainly that’s something that I will do,” the President told Reuters.

To be clear, Obama never so much as hinted at a legally-binding deal, but stressed the need for a strong “political framework” to emerge from the Copenhagen talks.

There are only a couple certainties to take away from this week of contradictions: The US isn’t taking these talks nearly as seriously as every other nation in the world (excepting, of course, Canada). And Americans for the most part have no idea how far behind the US is lagging, and how big a diplomatic and international relations threat our current inaction is. If there’s any hope of salvaging these talks and not losing another precious year (a year during which, it must be noted, we’ll condemn millions more of the world’s most vulnerable to unspeakable miseries), then Americans need to realize that we’ve slept through the alarm and are way late.

Tags: Barack Obama, Todd Stern, United States, USA