Global Warming Is Key Foreign Policy Test For The Nation

Environmental Defense today called on the US to signal its support for strong international efforts to control global warming. This week, international negotiations on the United Nations Framework Treaty on Global Climate Change will begin in The Hague. Delegations from over 160 nations will gather from November 13-26 and work to agree upon rules for the operation of the market mechanisms of the 1997 Kyoto Protocol on Climate Change, and to adopt other important decisions.

“The United States is facing a crucial foreign policy and environmental test at the climate negotiations,” said Dr. Michael Oppenheimer, Environmental Defense chief scientist. “The mainstream scientific consensus makes clear that bringing global warming under control is the critical challenge of the 21st century. Without US leadership, the chances of success will shrivel.”

Key issues that will be under discussion at The Hague negotiations include:

• Adopting effective rules for emissions trading
  
• Developing means for crediting carbon sequestration when it results in real reductions of atmospheric carbon dioxide
  
• Avoiding controversial cost cap proposals, which could significantly undermine pollution reduction efforts
  
• Beginning to establish an effective system for compliance with the Protocol’s emissions limitations

“The 1990s, likely the hottest decade of the past thousand years, capped decades of shrinking glaciers, thinning Arctic ice, intensifying rainstorms, and rising seas. Given the risks posed by these changes, the US must exert its economic strength and political leadership with actions to solve the global warming problem. Governments must catalyze this effort,” said Oppenheimer. “The Kyoto Protocol’s market-based strategies reward emissions reductions and should spur the innovations that will help end the US dependence on fuels that are too dirty and too expensive. We owe our children a safe and healthy future. America must lead the way.”