British officials question US commitment to climate deal

British and European officials have expressed severe doubts about the commitment of the United States to a new global agreement on reducing pollution and global warming.

By Alex Spillius in Washington and Tom Leonard in New York Published: 7:02PM BST 21 Sep 2009
As 100 presidents and prime ministers prepared for the meeting at the United Nations headquarters in New York, John Ashton, the Foreign Secretary's Special Representative for Climate Change, lamented the "ambition gap" between Europe and the US.
The US Senate is considered unlikely to approve a new energy-saving bill before the intended signing of a new climate deal in Copenhagen in December, which would replace the Kyoto Protocol.

"There is no technological obstacle, there is no macroeconomic obstacle. The barriers are political," said Mr Ashton.
John Bruton, the EU ambassador to Washington, said: "Is the US Senate really expecting all the other countries to make a serious effort on climate change at the Copenhagen conference in the absence of a clear commitment from the United States?
"The United States is just one of the 190 countries coming to this conference, but the United States emits 25 per cent of all the greenhouse gases that the conference is trying to reduce," he added.
Officials fear that the contentious debate in America on health care reform, which has raised accusations of high taxation and excessive government power, could leave President Barack Obama bereft of any political credit to push a bill controlling carbon emissions through the Senate, even though legislation already passed the House of Representatives.
Opponents are gearing up for an intense campaign that will stress the cost to industry and consumers of binding carbon targets.
"It's going to be a very big issue in this country and in the senate. Many of the same contours can be seen on climate and energy as we see today on health care, though they are not identical," said a British diplomat.
When Mr Obama took office, hopes were raised in Europe that he would lead the US on a bold reversal of George W Bush's rejection of Kyoto.
Apart from slow progress in Congress, the administration itself is unwilling to commit the US to internationally-enforced lower emission standards of the type favoured in Europe.
The Americans are determined that any international agreement is acceptable domestically, after Kyoto was signed by then president Bill Clinton in 1997 but rejected by a Republican-controlled Senate and later Mr Bush.
Ed Miliband, the Energy and Climate Change Secretary, said the world needed to make the most of a combination of political factors, including increased interest from China and India, a change of government in Japan as well as President Obama's first year in office.
"This is a moment you have to seize. This period is a make or break opportunity," he said. "It may look like the constellation of stars is difficult but it's actually the best it's going to be for some time to come."
Developing countries were past the stage of blaming the First World for global warming and were increasingly convinced of the need to act collectively, he said in New York.
"My impression talking to the administration... is that they realise the need to come to Copenhagen with as concrete an offer as possible," he added.