U.S. Needs to Wake Up on Climate Change

As climate change talks in Durban, South Africa head into their second week, hope increased for the passing of a universal, legally-binding agreement to cut greenhouse gases. China's representative Xie Zhenhua made a statement this morning, laying out their criteria for accepting an agreement. These conditions include a new round of Kyoto targets for cutting emissions in developed nations and advances on climate aid and low-carbon technology sharing.

This statement renewed optimism that a substantial deal could be met during the talks in the Durban. The discussions are being held amongst the members of the U.N. Framework on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in their 17^th annual conference. World leaders are meeting to discuss reducing carbon emissions and the disbursement of funds from industrialized nations to developing countries to invest in greener technologies.

The United States has been one of the firmest roadblocks to any serious new agreement on climate change. It is one of the few nations to not have signed the UNFCCC's Kyoto Protocol, which would have set legally binding targets for emission reduction. And it is also the most resistant to establishing a new treaty to replace the Kyoto Protocol when it expires next year.

Kumi Naidoo, Executive Director of Greenpeace, said that the U.S. is trying to push any commitment on emission reduction beyond 2020 and is trying to halt talks. "If the U.S. cannot see the way forward, we're going to be calling on them to step out of the way and let the rest of the world move forward," he said.

While the U.S. deserves shame for its resistance to climate talks, China and other nations calling for a deal do not yet deserve praise. It is yet to be seen whether China would agree to a deal calling for significant reductions in their own emissions. Until now, China has resisted efforts to curb emissions while it still develops as a nation. While it is true that China is still industrializing, they surpass even the U.S. in greenhouse gas emissions.

The European Union has proposed a compromise that would put off establishing a new, legally-binding treaty until the future but would have member nations set a deadline for establishing such an agreement by 2015. The short-term focus for the rest of the talks in Durban would then be on increasing transparency in climate talks and agreeing to logistics for disbursing the Green Climate Fund, funds that industrialized nations have agreed to pay to developing nations to offset their costs of curbing emissions.

The EU's plan seems like a reasonable compromise between nations like China and the U.S. However, this is absolutely one issue that we cannot keep pushing off to be settled by the next round of negotiators or future generations. Climate change is a global issue on which America has long been lacking, shunning our traditional leadership role in the international community.

It is hypocritical of the United States to accuse other nations of acting in their own economic interests on other issues related to human rights, genocide prevention, and nuclear non-proliferation when we do the exact same thing on climate change. The U.S. cannot bemoan our weakening power in the world if we refuse to step up and lead on one of the most pressing issues facing the global community.