Genuine hope on climate change

The UN summit speeches by presidents Obama and Hu show how much progress has been made this year on climate change

Joseph Romm
guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 22 September 2009 21.30 BST
President Obama's historic address to the UN climate summit makes clear he will bring all of his political and rhetorical skills to achieving a strong domestic climate bill – and an international deal – in the coming months. President Hu Jintao's speech makes clear that China is also prepared to take strong action at home to enable an international deal.
President Obama asserted that failure to act "boldly, swiftly, and together" risks "consigning future generations to an irreversible catastrophe":
No nation, however large or small, wealthy or poor, can escape the impact of climate change.... The security and stability of each nation and all peoples – our prosperity, our health, our safety – are in jeopardy. And the time we have to reverse this tide is running out.
Obama became the first president to ever acknowledge that the US has failed to live up to its responsibility to act:
It is true that for too many years, mankind has been slow to respond to or even recognize the magnitude of the climate threat. It is true of my own country as well. We recognise that.... Yes, the developed nations that caused much of the damage to our climate over the last century still have a responsibility to lead.
President Obama pointed out that his administration has made remarkable strides in accelerating clean energy deployment and reversing emissions trends: "I am proud to say that the United States has done more to promote clean energy and reduce carbon pollution in the last eight months than at any other time in our history.... And already, we know that the recent drop in overall U.S. emissions is due in part to steps that promote greater efficiency and greater use of renewable energy."
In fact, Obama's announcement last week of national standards for new vehicle fuel economy and exhaust pipe greenhouse gas emission is "the single biggest step the American government has ever taken to cut greenhouse-gas emissions," as one US analyst put it.
But Obama also acknowledged that much, much more needs to be done. At a national level, he pledged US action on "slashing our emissions to reach the targets we set for 2020 and our long-term goal for 2050." For those who don't follow US climate politics closely, this means he is committed to passage through the Senate of a climate and clean energy bill with targets for 2020 and 2050 similar to those found in the recently-passed House of Representatives bill – which are also similar to what he campaigned on.
The 2050 target is a more than 80% reduction from 2005 levels. The 2020 target remains a subject of some debate. The House bill require a 17% cut – while creating a large pool of money to invest in strategies for reducing deforestation that would achieve the equivalent of a further 10% reduction. This is not adequate from a scientific perspective, but it is an inevitable political result after a decade of delay and obstruction from Obama's predecessor, George Bush. America will be starting its emissions reductions efforts a decade later then the other developed countries, and so politically our near-term target is weaker than it needs to be be.
Obama also made news by announcing: "Later this week, I will work with my colleagues at the G20 to phase out fossil fuel subsidies so that we can better address our climate challenge." Certainly, these subsidies are a major impediment to an accelerated transition to clean energy.
Finally, President Hu Jintao continued China's remarkable series of pledges this year to sharply change the recent, unsustainable greenhouse gas emission trends of the world's biggest emitter. In particular, Hu introduced a new goal of reducing carbon dioxide emissions per unit of GDP from 2005 levels by 2020 by a "notable margin." I think China needs to cut them by more than half over that 15 year period.
Julian Wong, a senior policy analyst for the Centre for American Progress, said: "Taken together, President Hu's latest message underscores China's seriousness in tackling climate change, and narrows the gap between the asks and wants among the major developed and developing nations in the international negotiations. This should serve as an indication to the developed countries of China's good faith on climate action, and as a catalyst to other developing countries to formulate their own robust low-carbon strategies."
The world's two biggest carbon polluters, the US and China, have come a long way over the last year. And this should give the world genuine hope that serious progress can be made on the gravest threat humanity faces.