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Paris Climate News

A lesson from Kyoto’s failure – don’t let Congress touch a climate deal.
In 1997, more than 150 countries came together in Kyoto, Japan, to negotiat e a deal to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions driving global warming. Eighteen years later, the world is still trying to agree on how to tackle climate change. But this time around, the U.S. pledge does not require congressional approval. That approach echoes an important lesson from Kyoto: A treaty’s worth is directly tied to the president’s ability to enact it.

The lesson of Kyoto was stark. “We learned the limits of what the U.S. can agree to,” said Rafe Pomerance, who went to Kyoto as deputy assistant secretary of state for environment and development. “Climate change policy is not fully dictated by negotiations,” he said. “They’re dictated by domestic political opportunities and constraints.” President Obama can pledge only wha t he can achieve through executive action, and that means that the agreement has to be a non-binding commitment that does not require congressional approval. “If the U.S. Congress won’t move, the U.S. is heavily constrained and therefore the world is constrained,” Pomerance said. Whether or not the U.S. is the largest emitter (China overtook the U.S. as the world’s biggest emitter in 2007), it’s still a major actor.

So the Paris negotiations have taken an alternative tactic. …

http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/a-lesson-from-kyotos-fai lure-dont-let-congress-touch-a-climate-deal/ & http://www.environmentalhealthnews.org/t/2960402875661446914

Paris summit by night, day and behind the scenes
Those observing the hustle and bustle of world leaders may miss the minutiae of deals being hammered out late into t he night.
http://www.smh.com.au/environment/un-climate-conference/climate-summit-paris-by-night-day-and-behind-the-scenes-20151203-glf865.html

Paris climate change talks yield first draft amid air of optimism
Country representatives and green groups say French summit is more cordial and efficient than Copenhagen five years ago
http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/dec/05/paris-climate-change-talks-dr aft-french-summit

December 7, 2015 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | general