October 2007
A Bird In The Hand...
In what was supposed to be a reconciliatory and forward thinking address to a special conference on climate change, President Bush once again found himself out in the cold.
The meeting in Washington included representatives from 16 of the top world economies. Delegates were hoping for a sign in change of attitude from the President who has proven to be the major stumbling block in getting consensus amongst developed nations to dramatically alter their environmental policies.
Already facing criticism for circumventing the UN process and organising another climate change forum, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon was amongst a number of prominent speakers who made clear that "the UN climate process is the appropriate forum for negotiating global action". Speakers at an earlier UN forum called for "a new political momentum" on reducing emissions and applying pressure on the United States to subscribe to mandatory limits on pollutants.
Nonetheless, the conference began on a promising note with Bush engaging in a seeming volte-face after years of refuting climate change science. Stating that "our understanding of science had moved on", he acknowledged, "Energy security and climate change are two of the great challenges of our time. The United States takes these challenges seriously."
He continued: "Our guiding principle is clear: we must lead the world to produce fewer greenhouse gas emissions, and we must do it in a way that does not undermine economic growth or prevent nations from delivering greater prosperity."
However, rejecting mandatory caps on pollution, the President proceeded to outline a need for clean coal, nuclear energy and cleaner technology as solutions to the problem. Torpedoing notions that Bush was searching to secure his international legacy, he went on to state: "We’re working to develop next-generation plug-in hybrids that will be able to travel nearly 40miles without using a drop of gasoline. And your automobile doesn’t have to look like a golf cart".
Furious European diplomats did not mince their words at what they regarded as a mockery of the climate change movement:
"This is a total charade. The president has said he will lead on climate change but he won’t agree binding emissions, while other nations will. He says he will lead on technology but then he asks other countries to contribute funds, without saying how much he’ll contribute himself. It’s humiliating for him – a total humiliation."
There were even suggests that Mr Bush was using the forum as a "spoler" for the UN conference on climate change to be held this December in Bali, a view shared by Friends of the Earth.
Of the president’s "historic undertaking", delegates criticised Bush as "trying to present himself as a leader while showing no sign of leadership. It was a total failure."
Britain’s special envoy on climate change noted "how isolated the US has become on this issue" and had in fact succeeded in annoying some of those present as they lectured the rest of the world on the issue.
Most strikingly, even China and India, two of the world’s biggest polluters with rapidly growing economies indicated that they considered the voluntary approach to cutting emissions proposed by the US as unworkable, and favoured binding measures.
The author recalls a not so dissimilar examination of Bush’s environmental musings in May’s newsletter and fears that doubts as to whether the president’s plans were the dawn of a new era or mere rhetoric have been confirmed.
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