Reuters
Sunday 27 January 2008
Washington - The world's biggest greenhouse gas-polluting countries are sending delegates to Hawaii this week for a U.S.-hosted meeting aimed at curbing climate change without stalling economic growth.
The two-day gathering, which starts on Wednesday in Honolulu, is meant to spur U.N. negotiations for an international climate agreement by 2009, so a pact will be ready when the current carbon-capping Kyoto Protocol expires in 2012.
The Bush administration rejects the Kyoto plan, saying it unfairly exempts developing countries from cutting back on emissions, and could cost U.S. jobs. Instead, Washington favors voluntary measures and "aspirational goals" to limit climate change, aided by easier transfer of environmental technology.
In addition to the United States, by many counts the biggest emitter of climate-warming carbon dioxide, the conference is expecting representatives from Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Russia, South Africa, South Korea and the United Kingdom.
The United Nations and the European Union will also be represented.
This is the second time this group has convened - the first time was in Washington in September - and there has been some skepticism among environmentalists about the effectiveness of this process.
"The question back in September was, 'Does the fact that they're launching this process indicate some change in the position of this administration?"' said Angela Anderson of the non-partisan Pew Environment Group.
The answer, Anderson said in a telephone interview, is no: "There has been no change in position whatsoever in this White House. They were hoping to sell their position to the rest of the world and that's not working."
Collaboration and Criticism
James Connaughton, the head of the White House Council on Environmental Quality, played down expectations for the Hawaii meeting.
"I think these will be iterative discussions, which the initial goal will be to lay out a variety of options without holding any country to a particular proposal," Connaughton told reporters at a briefing on Friday. "... We're trying to do this in a collaborative way, rather than in the more classic 'You bring your number, I bring my number, and we start kicking them around."'
President George W. Bush drew criticism at the September meeting for his opposition to the mandatory limits on carbon emissions specified by the Kyoto agreement and supported by every other major industrialized country.
The criticism continued in December at a global climate meeting in Bali, Indonesia, where U.S. representatives - including Connaughton - were booed for opposing demands by poor nations for the rich to do more to help them fight climate change.
Back in Washington, the Democratic-controlled Congress last week grilled Connaughton and another top Bush administration official, Stephen Johnson, chief of the Environmental Protection Agency, over two hot-button issues: EPA's rejection of a push by California and 15 other states to set higher standards than the U.S. government for vehicle emissions, and the administration's overall policy on climate change.
Another environmental case drawing unwelcome attention is the U.S. government's delay in deciding whether polar bears should be classified as threatened by climate change as their icy habitat melts. The postponed deadline for issuing this decision is February 9 - three days after an expected sale of oil and gas leases in the Chukchi Sea off the Alaskan coast, where thousands of polar bears live.
The Hawaii meeting begins two days after Bush's final State of the Union address. Connaughton declined to say whether Bush would discuss greenhouse emissions in this major speech, but said climate change was "among the items at the top of the agenda" in presidential discussions with world leaders.
"World leaders and the president are very, very engaged, and I think you'll see that continued engagement all the way through this year," Connaughton said. Bush leaves office on January 20, 2009.
Invest in the Planet and Clean Up
The Independent UK | Editorial
Sunday 27 January 2008
Reading, as we know, is not George Bush's strongest suit, but he should at least glance at the graphs of a new report before his latest initiative on global warming opens in Hawaii this week. They show that his whole approach to tackling global warming - by relying on voluntary initiatives from industry to come up with technological breakthroughs - is doomed to failure. That may be just what he intends - so Gordon Brown and the other leaders of the major developed and developing economies represented at the mid-Pacific meeting should read the report, too.
The rest of the world almost boycotted the get-together in the face of United States's intransigence at the crucial international negotiations in Bali last month, suspecting, quite rightly, that it is a diversionary tactic intended to impede progress towards agreement on worldwide mandatory targets for cutting emissions of carbon dioxide. Now they should dismiss it as a palpable waste of time.
For the survey of 500 top companies by the consultancy, Accenture, makes it clear that they have no intention of taking the lead. Only 5 per cent describe climate change as their top priority, with not a single business in China doing so. Only 11 per cent even put it second or third. It ranks far below such concerns as increasing sales and competing for talented staff. More than two-thirds see measures to tackle global warming as a burden, imposing costs on operations - around twice as many as understand that it presents opportunities for increasing business.
Their attitude is understandable, though short-sighted. It is hard to criticise top executives for being preoccupied with increasing sales and recruiting the best people. But it is sad that more have not realised that being seen to tackle climate change helps them to achieve both aims, and boosts the bottom line. As the report itself makes clear, consumers are increasingly attracted to greener companies: "Environmental responsibility is quickly becoming an important factor in a buyer's decision to purchase a particular product or service," it concludes, "and this trend will only accelerate."
Most strikingly it found that 97 per cent of consumers in China are concerned about climate change, well above the already high global average of 85 per cent. And a survey by the US National Marketing Institute has shown that half of Americans say they would be more likely to buy shares in relatively environmentally friendly companies, and that investment in green and ethical funds has mushroomed.
Another study found that three-quarters of MBA students at top business schools said they would be willing to accept a pay cut of 10 to 20 per cent to work for a socially responsible company. Whether or not they would actually do so, when it came to it, there is no doubt that pioneering green companies such as Google and BSkyB find their environmental stances and practices invaluable when it comes to recruiting young staffs - particularly so for the most talented top few per cent, on whom the future of any business depends.
Even more important, climate change - and the measures brought in to address it - is going to fundamentally change the world economy, create a need for new products, and open up new markets. The companies that see, and seize, the opportunities first stand to clean up. Prophets will make the big profits.
The main thing stopping most companies from taking the plunge is uncertainty about what governments will do. While two-thirds of those surveyed accept that they have a role to play in tackling climate change, only 42 per cent worldwide - and 14 per cent in China - feel well-placed to do so. As the heads of blue-chip firms from Tesco to Dupont, BP to General Electric have repeatedly told the Bush administration and other governments, they need a clear framework of targets for increasing reductions in carbon dioxide to be able to plan for the future and commit the necessary investment. In this, they have been as vocal as any environmental group.
This is where President Bush's recalcitrant attitude has been so devastating. By taking every opportunity to impede progress, he has allowed the uncertainty to continue, thus putting in peril the economic objectives he claims to serve. The time has come for this to stop. The Hawaii meeting is as good an opportunity as any to make a stand. Whenever the rest of the world has united against him on global warming he has shifted ground, one reason why Tony Blair's repeated efforts to cuddle close to him were so damaging.
The negotiations in Bali were rescued because the other participants told the US to change its stance or "get out of the way." They should start in Hawaii, where they left off on the "island of the gods."
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