USA: all articles

As we reported on Sunday, Yvo de Boer, Executive Secretary of the UN Climate Change Convention, has been urging countries to focus on process not substance. He wants countries to focus on ‘tools and instruments' here at Bali, and leave tough talk about targets for a later meeting.

‘A marriage contract is the culmination of a love affair,' he says, ‘not the topic of discussion on the first date.'

Speaking for Climate Action Network Europe today, Matthias Dowe argued that we have moved far beyond the flush of first love. 'These parties have been dating for over fifteen years.'

Earlier this week, I caught up with Peter Goldmark, Program Director for Climate & Air at US NGO Environmental Defense.

I asked him what he thought would be the major cleavage points of the Bali negotiations. This is Peter's headline analysis:

‘Kyoto's failure haunts new U.N. talks.' ‘Time to ditch Kyoto.' These recent headlines have found a ready audience among those who have never liked the treaty.

But has Kyoto really proved a let down? Or is it performing as advertised when it was agreed with great fanfare in 1997, and then ratified a little over 7 painful years later?

There's a long list of things George Bush hates about Kyoto. It would, he argues, have cost too many American jobs, been ruinous for the US economy, driven up energy prices, and stopped the country burning its vast stocks of coal.

But one thing really seems to sticks in his craw: China.

Five years ago, I was in Johannesburg, blogging the World Summit on Sustainable Development. Then the US took on all comers over toilets. For all sorts of reasons (some of which were, in fact, laudable), it held out against a target for getting basic sanitation to more poor people.