New approach for US in global climate change talks

Dina Cappiello, Associated Press Yahoo News 28 Mar 09;

WASHINGTON – At its first negotiations on climate change, the Obama administration is trying to convince other countries that the U.S. does care about global warming and wants to shape an international accord.

After eight years on the sidelines, the U.S. says it is ready for a central role in developing a new agreement to slash greenhouse gases. But whether the U.S, which is the second largest source of heat-trapping pollution, is ready to sign onto a deal by year's end could depend on Congress.

In a rare move, State Department climate envoy Todd Stern joined the rest of the U.S. delegation in Bonn, Germany, for the first of a series of largely technical meetings that begin Sunday. The talks are hoped to lay the groundwork for an agreement to be signed in December in Denmark.

Stern, in a telephone interview Thursday with The Associated Press from London, said it was important for him to attend and "make the first statement on behalf of the United States and say we're back, we're serious, we're here, we're committed and we're going to try to get this thing done."

He added, "We want to convey that we mean it."

Yvo de Boer, executive secretary of the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change, which is hosting the Bonn talks, said participants "will be very excited" to hear Stern outline the basic principles that will guide the U.S.

Other countries are expecting a new tone after eight years during which the Bush administration made clear its disdain for any climate discussions aimed at securing a commitment to mandatory greenhouse gas reductions.

This time the U.S. delegation represents the views of a White House committed to mandatory action on climate change. And unlike 1997, when the Kyoto Protocol was drafted, there is now a Democratic-controlled Congress moving to embrace mandatory limits on greenhouse gases.

Back then, the United States lacked support for mandatory actions to achieve the reductions the U.S. had signed on to. Congress never ratified that accord and the Bush administration later rejected it outright, citing the lack of participation from developing countries.

That lack of involvement and the cost of emission cuts, in form of higher energy bills, have dominated the U.S. debate over Kyoto for years. Those issues have not have not disappeared.

But President Barack Obama has acted to reduce U.S. greenhouse gases and wants Congress to pass a cap-and-trade program that would cut global warming pollution 80 percent by mid-century.

"The president has embarked on a strong domestic program already and there is much more coming," Stern said at a briefing Friday in Berlin.

On Saturday, the White House announced it was convening a Major Economies Forum on Energy and Climate in Washington in late April to help achieve a successful outcome in Copenhagen and develop joint ventures to increase the global supply of clean energy. With only six weeks of U.N. talks scheduled before the Denmark meeting, the forum will give leaders of the 16 major economies and the U.S. more time to negotiate a deal.

The final meeting of the forum will be held in La Maddalena, Italy, in July 2009.

Stern said the U.S. position on an international agreement will be framed by what happens in Congress. The reductions expected to be required by Congress will be the basis for what the U.S. can commit to reducing, he said.

But Congress already is trying to address the recession, health care and other priorities. "This will be a big, big fight to get the domestic piece done," Stern conceded.

Many European countries want the U.S. to adopt stronger short-term targets, equal to a 25 percent to 40 percent reduction from 1990 levels by 2020. Obama has called for reaching 1990 levels by then, a roughly 15 percent cut.

Stern has warned European leaders that their demands will lead to stalemate.

In Germany, the U.S. team is expected to spend most of its time listening and forming relationships rather than discussing concrete proposals.

That "is unfortunate given the intense timetable between now and Copenhagen, but understandable," said Jennifer Havercamp, who leads Environmental Defense Fund's international climate negotiations team. "It will not achieve a lot of substantive progress in the negotiations because the Obama team is so new."

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Associated Press writer Vanessa Gera contributed reporting from Berlin.

Obama starts climate change forum for big economies
Jeff Mason, Reuters 28 Mar 09;

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama on Saturday invited 16 "major economies" including the European Union and the United Nations to take part in a forum on climate change to facilitate a U.N. pact on global warming.

Obama, a Democrat who has taken a more aggressive stance on climate change than his predecessor, Republican George W. Bush, invited the group to a preparatory session on April 27 and 28 in Washington.

The White House made clear that Obama's new initiative would aim to augment U.N. talks that are meant to culminate in an agreement in Copenhagen in December.

"Our goal is to use this forum very much as a key part in how we reach an overall agreement," a senior administration official told Reuters, adding the review was "an important piece of the puzzle of how we get from here to Copenhagen."

The "Major Economies Forum on Energy and Climate" has echoes of a similar set of meetings organized by the previous administration.

Bush's "major economies" initiative drew skepticism from participants, who were wary the process was his administration's way of circumventing broader U.N. talks to forge an international deal.

The U.S. official said countries around the world had expressed interest in restarting the major economies process because of Obama's differences from Bush on climate change.

The president, who took office in January, has said he wants the United States to take the lead in global warming talks.

The April meeting, to be hosted at the State Department, would likely touch on a range of issues including technology, financing, and emissions trading, the official said.

POLITICAL WILL

In a statement, the White House said the forum would "help generate the political leadership necessary" to achieve an international pact to cut greenhouse gas emissions later this year.

It said the meeting would spur dialogue among developed and developing countries about the issue, "and advance the exploration of concrete initiatives and joint ventures that increase the supply of clean energy while cutting greenhouse gas emissions."

The major economies include: Australia, Brazil, Britain, Canada, China, the European Union, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Korea, Mexico, Russia, South Africa and the United States.

Denmark, which is hosting the U.N. meeting in December to forge a pact that would take over from the Kyoto Protocol, was also invited.

The group's preparatory sessions are to culminate with a major meeting on the subject in La Maddalena, Italy, in July, hosted by Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi.

The Group of Eight rich nations also meets at the same location in Italy in July, and the senior official said the climate summit would take place on the margins of the G8.

The U.S. official said he expected other meetings would take place before July, probably outside of the United States.

Obama's announcement comes shortly before a fresh round of U.N. climate talks on Sunday. Up to 190 nations are to meet in Bonn, Germany, to work on plugging huge gaps in the international pact, which is slated to be agreed to in Denmark in December.

Obama wants to cut U.S. emissions by roughly 15 percent back to 1990 levels by 2020 -- tougher than Bush, who saw U.S. emissions peaking as late as 2025.