Economic Crisis A Hurdle In Climate Change Treaty Negotiations

Lack of credit supply in world markets, high unemployment rates and plummeting economic growth rates are keeping nations from taking bold measures to protect the environment, noted the Swedish environment minister Andreas Carlgren.

Countries around the world are worried that financially intensive schemes to protect environment could take away the much needed financial resources from the core and growth driving sectors of their economies. Putting restrictions on manufacturing and public utilities could not only slow down any economic recovery but also put extra burden on the common people who are already facing problems of reduced incomes and lost jobs. 

European Union has been the most aggressive in setting ambitious renewable energy and emission reduction goals but some of its own members are in poor economic state to commit to any kind of emission targets. Poland has made it clear that it will not give up its right to use indigenous coal reserves in order to power its economic growth.

US to Have a National Climate Registry; Will India & China Follow?

Environment Protection Agency has announced that the US government would maintain a registry of all carbon emissions produced from some 13,000 high polluting industries. Companies emitting more than 25,000 metric tonnes of carbon emissions yearly will be required to report to this registry.

The plan to have a climate registry has been doing the rounds since 2007 and although a Climate Registry exists covering various American, Canadian and Mexican states, this would be much broader and mandatory in nature. Terming the decision as ‘critical step towards protection of health and environment’, the  that emissions data is essential in order to tackle the problem of climate change. The registry would require the companies to report their methane emissions also, another major greenhouse gas. 

United States is not bound by any international treaty to maintain a national climate registry unlike the Annex 1 countries under the Kyoto Protocol. Under the Kyoto Protocol, the developed nations (which ratified the treaty) were mandated to create and maintain an annual climate registry so as to monitor any increase or decrease in the carbon emissions and to determine, on the basis of tonnes of emissions, the number of emission allowances and carbon credits the countries (or the companies) are entitled to. The United States is a signatory to the treaty but has not ratified the same.

EU Wants US to Take Bold Actions on Climate Policy to Put Pressure on India, China

President Obama during his inagural address to the Congress

The European Union wants President Obama to act on his promise of introducing a new climate change policy and work out the modalities of a cap-and-trade policy before the Copenhagen Talks in December. Doing so, EU ministers say, would send a clear signal to the world and especially the developing countries about the change in America’s environment policy.

The European Union already has clear renewable energy and carbon emissions reduction policy in place but that has yet to make any difference in the stance of the developing countries like India and China. The Asian neighbors continue to resist any demands to reduce their carbon emissions claiming that their contribution to the overall global carbon emissions is very less as compared to that of the developed nations especially the United States which has not ratified the Kyoto Protocol.

In these circumstances, the EU fears that, the Copenhagen talks aimed at reaching a broad consensus regarding the next set of targets and participants to those emission reduction goals is could see a fate similar to the WTO talks held at Doha, Qatar.