Barack Obama’s negotiating position for a global deal to fight climate change is beginning to look like a big buffet. In speeches this week, Obama’s lead climate negotiator, Todd Stern, has given the clearest indication to date that America is pushing for an agreement with some elements of a full-scale, legally binding international treaty. But other key components of a global agreement would be more in line with a handshake deal among leaders.
The combo deal would allow America to join other countries in cutting carbon dioxide emissions
but avoid having to obtain Senate ratification, which is generally acknowledged as politically impossible. The buffet option will be put on the table in Lima in December when negotiations enter the final stretch aimed at reaching an international climate deal by the end of 2015.
As outlined this week by Stern, countries would be required to make a public pledge on cutting their greenhouse gas emissions to reach a 2025 target. Countries would also be required to report on progress they have made towards reaching those targets.
However, the countries would be left to determine the scale of their own cuts, and critics point out there are no guarantees that all of the actions taken by individual countries would be enough to avoid crossing the 2C threshold that scientists say would result in catastrophic climate change.
In a speech at Yale, Stern said the buffet option, which was first suggested by New Zealand, had a number of benefits over the legally binding treaty that had been the stated purpose of the last 20-plus years of climate talks. It would ensure that big polluters sign on to a deal late next year, Stern said.
Read more:
http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2014/oct/17/buffet-option-global-climate-talks
