Copenhagen Was Not A Total Failure, Says White House Official

By Benny Martinez - University of New Mexico/Talk Radio News Service

Although the Copenhagen climate conference in December did not yield a legally binding agreement, President Obama’s Special Envoy on Climate Change, Todd Stern, defended U.S. efforts at the conference Tuesday, and explained that last-minute success was in fact reached.

Stern pointed to an accord that gave individual countries the responsibility to calculate emission reductions. The accord, which was agreed to by nearly 100 countries after a string of negotiations from Obama and Secretary State Hillary Clinton, also capped the increase in global average climate temperature at 2 degrees centigrade. Strong opposition came from six countries, including China and India, which ultimately prohibited the accord from becoming legally binding.

“[The accord] certainly doesn’t do everything, it is more sketch than painting,” Stern said during remarks at the Center for American Progress. “But it shows the way forward in a number of important ways, and did this at a moment when failure seemed imminent.”

“Progress in these issues should also contribute to the fabric of a larger new regime for climate diplomacy,” Stern added.

Billions from Bush to Bank

A Bush administration proposal aimed at expanding cleaner technology in developing countries was discussed by the Domestic and International Monetary Policy, Trade, and Technology Subcommittee. Speakers agreed that developing states are inclined to turn to inexpensive, polluting forms of technology in an effort to increase GDP and improve the national standard of living.

President Bush’s plan calls for a two billion dollar contribution from the United States to the World Bank. An additional eight billion dollars would come from other developed countries. Funding would then be distributed through the World Bank, a decision met with skepticism by Brent Blackwelder of Friends of the Earth. Blackwelder said that the World Bank has a history of allocating funds for damaging projects and that there is “no confidence” that the bank has changes its policies.

Jacob Wersman, , program director of the World Resources Institute's Institutions and Governance Program, said that the United States was at last taking the lead in issues pertaining to global climate control, adding that the Clean Technology Fund has potential to also reform the United States’s energy sector.

Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas) expressed discomfort with the monetary price of instituting the program, a discomfort that Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) pointed out challenges a policy formed by Paul’s own party. In reference to government spending, Paul said that the United States “will have to wake up and be responsible.” Frank said that, though he supports the initiative, the Clean Technology Fund would likely be cut ahead of other government projects.