Copyright (c) 2008 Carbon-info.org

 

INTERNATIONAL ACTION ON GLOBAL WARMING!

 

The history and background to the campaign

Throughout the last century, the United States has tried to obstruct, delay and block international progress on how to deal with global warming and the threat of irreversible climate change.

America's contribution to the political process has taken one of two responses:

1) That of spoilt super power, always ready to walk away from any deal.

2) That of climate bully, flexing its political and economical power to get its way.

As part of this campaign, Carbon-info.org has compiled an American climate dossier, which shows how the US has neglected its international obligations to help deal with the threat climate change - the new weapon of mass destruction rich nations are threatening many developing and African nations with.

 

 

Climate Dossier - The United States

 

9th December 1997

During the Kyoto discussions the US Senate voiced its concern over the attempts made by the Clinton-Gore administration to reach a deal. Despite America being accountable for 30% of world CO2 emissions, the senate wanted a deal that secured: "No erosion of American sovereignty, no hidden taxes, no loss of American jobs, no disadvantage to American business, and no special advantages to the Third World."

 

29th March 2001

President Bush decides to walk away from the 1997 Kyoto Protocol. White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said: "The president has been unequivocal. He does not support the Kyoto treaty. It is not in the United States' economic best interest."

 

10th December 2005

Kyoto Protocol comes into effect without the United States. America confirms that it is willing to talk, as long as any talks are "open and non-binding".

 

1st February 2006

In his State of the Union speech the President said  that the US wanted to replace 75% of oil imports by 2025. Oil being replaced with Ethanol and other 'green' fuels, which were likely to further increase deforestation and CO2 emissions. America's dependency on oil rather than global warming, which was not referenced in the speech,  was unfortunately driving the Presidents thinking.

 

14th February 2006

Jim Hansen, the director of the Nasa Goddard Institute for Space Studies and climate research, has confirmed that the US government has tried to stop him from speaking openly about some of the Institute's latest findings.

 

18th May 2006

During the UN's Climate talks, the U.S. climate negotiator Harlan Watson reconfirmed that the USA has no plans to rejoin Kyoto. Mr. Watson said that it would "cost US jobs and wrongly excluded developing nations from a first round."

 

16th November 2006

Three democratic chairs for the Senate have written to President Bush to ask for a total reversal of US policy on global warming. Within days the President said that there would be "no policy change."

 

10th June 2007

At the G8 summit, President Bush insisted on a final global warming text, which did not refer to binding targets but merely stated that "the G8 will look to achieve 50% emission cuts by the year 2050."

 

27th September 2007

The US stages a conference on global warming, which leads to no further agreement. Environment campaigners criticise the US for undermining the UN's efforts and called the conference a "distraction and a sideshow." and an attempt to cloud the political process ahead of the UN Bali summit in December.

 

16th December 2007

The final text to come out of the UN's Bali conference did not make any reference to legally binding targets. Neither a CO2 reduction target for 2020 of 25-40% nor a goal for 2050 of a 50% reduction were included. Blocked by the USA negotiators throughout the entire week, we were left with nothing but: "Recognizing that deep cuts in global emissions will be required".

 

18th December 2007

Immediately after the Bali conference, the US administration has said that it had "serious concerns" about the agreement reached, which undermined the effort of the UN, as well as signalling that a replacement for Kyoto may have to be sought without the US.

 

20th December 2007

The Bush administration obstructed California's bid to regulate greenhouse gas emissions from automobiles, dealing a blow to the state's attempts to combat global warming.