Economic slump may constrain US climate ambitions, Kerry warns

Barack Obama's promise to write a 'new chapter in America's leadership' on the environment could be undermined by the current economic crisis, a leading figure in global climate change negotiations has warned ahead of a UN summit in Poland next month
Suzanne Goldenberg in Washington
guardian.co.uk, Wednesday November 26 2008 10.49 GMT

Barack Obama, who pledged only last week to write a "new chapter in America's leadership" on the environment, could find his hands tied by the economic crisis, a leading figure in global climate change negotiations said yesterday.
John Kerry, who will lead the Senate delegation to the UN's climate meeting in Poznan, said that America was now in a position to play a leading role on global climate change negotiations. But he also warned that the incoming Obama administration would be constrained by the economic crisis in offering incentives to countries such as India and China to commit to action to lower greenhouse gas emissions.
"We have to figure out what is achievable at Copenhagen within one year given our economic realities," Kerry told a conference call with reporters. "The bottom line is we are not going to be in the position we were two years ago in the short term to do as much technology transfer or economic assistance in terms of transitional issues that might have led other countries to participate," he said.
The caution comes amid rising anticipation on the eve of the UN meeting in Poznan about the prospects of negotiating a successor to the Kyoto protocol late next year. Kerry said there would be little actual negotiation on a treaty at Poznan and that the meeting would focus on setting out a working timetable. "This is not a negotiation session," he said. "This is a negotiation to set up a glidepath going into Copenhagen."
In a video appearance last week before a climate change conference hosted by California's governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Obama promised a global leadership role for the US.
Kerry reaffirmed that pledge - even with the caveats. "It's a moment we've been waiting for, many of us, for some period of time - for eight years, to be blunt," he said. "And we intend to pick up the baton and really run with it here."
Kerry said Obama had asked him to report back on the meeting in Poland.
The Democratic presidential candidate in 2004, Kerry is scheduled to take over as the chairman of the Senate foreign relations committee next January. That puts him in pole position for lining up support in Congress behind a successor to Kyoto. "It's going to be one of the top priorities of the committee," Kerry said. "I know this playing field and I know this issue."
Kerry said Obama was moving ahead on filling the environmental portfolios in his administration, and in coordinating with the relevant working committees in Congress.
Obama will not be in Poznan - his mantra since the election has been that America has only one sitting president at a time. However, the focus has already shifted towards the potential actors in the next administration.
Kerry is to be joined at Poznan by the Minnesota senator, Amy Klobuchar, an early supporter of Obama who has been active on the environment.
President Bush will be sending his regular negotiators to Poland for the final climate change conference of his administration. The American delegation will be led by the undersecretary of state, Paula Dobriansky. Jim Connaughton, the White House adviser on the environment, will also attend. The America delegation was heckled at last December's climate conference in Bali.