Countries Hedging Emissions Reduction Promises As Climate Leaders Shift Positions
February 22, 2010 Kyriaki (Sandy) Venetis The fallout from Copenhagen’s disastrous Climate Change Conference continues. Countries are now formally sending the United Nations their hedged promises to limit greenhouse gas emissions by 2020, new meetings are being planned for the Spring, and there are plenty of climate leaders changing jobs.
All are hedging their promises to some extent, with the largest and most powerful among them being the United States, European Union, China, and India.
Source: http://blogs.fortlewis.edu/greenfreedom/2009/11/04/copenhagen-protocol
Among the developed countries, the U.S. plans to work to reduce emissions to 17 percent below 2005 levels in 2020, “in conformity with anticipated U.S. energy and climate legislation,” according to the U.S. State Department’s Office of the Special Envoy for Climate Change.
The European Union, as part of its own formal statement to the U.N., said that, “As part of a global and comprehensive agreement for the period beyond 2012, the EU reiterates its conditional offer to move to a 30 percent reduction by 2020 compared to 1990 levels, provided that other developed countries commit themselves to comparable emission(s) reductions and that developing countries contribute adequately according to their responsibilities and respective capabilities.”