US under mounting pressure at Bali
Friday, 7 December 2007
BALI, Dec 06 (AP): American climate negotiators refused to back down in their opposition to mandatory cuts in greenhouse gas emissions Thursday, even as a US Senate panel endorsed sharp reductions in pollution blamed for global warming.
The United States, the world's largest producer of such gases, has resisted calls for strict limits on emissions at the UN climate conference, which is aimed at launching negotiations for an agreement to follow the Kyoto Protocol when it expires in 2012.
That stance suffered a blow when the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee passed a bill Wednesday to cut U.S. emissions by 70 percent by 2050 from electric power plants, manufacturing and transportation. The bill now goes to the full Senate.
U.S. climate negotiator Harlan Watson, however, said that would not impact Washington's position at the international gathering in Bali.
It was the first bill calling for mandatory U.S. limit on greenhouse gases to be taken up in Congress since global warming emerged as an environmental issue more than two decades ago.
Republican critics of the bill argued that limiting the emissions could become a hardship because of higher energy costs.
The two-week conference, which opened Monday, is already in a tense standoff between two camps, with the majority supporting mandatory emissions cuts on one side, and opponents such as the United States on the other, delegates said.
Scientists say the world must act quickly to slash greenhouse gas emissions and limit the rise in global temperatures or risk triggering devastating droughts and flooding, strangling world food production and killing off animal species.
Washington's isolation in Bali has increased following Australia's announcement Monday that it has reversed its opposition to the Kyoto pact and started the ratification process - winning applause at the conference's opening session. That left the U.S. as the only industrialized nation to oppose the agreement.
The United States, the world's largest producer of such gases, has resisted calls for strict limits on emissions at the UN climate conference, which is aimed at launching negotiations for an agreement to follow the Kyoto Protocol when it expires in 2012.
That stance suffered a blow when the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee passed a bill Wednesday to cut U.S. emissions by 70 percent by 2050 from electric power plants, manufacturing and transportation. The bill now goes to the full Senate.
U.S. climate negotiator Harlan Watson, however, said that would not impact Washington's position at the international gathering in Bali.
It was the first bill calling for mandatory U.S. limit on greenhouse gases to be taken up in Congress since global warming emerged as an environmental issue more than two decades ago.
Republican critics of the bill argued that limiting the emissions could become a hardship because of higher energy costs.
The two-week conference, which opened Monday, is already in a tense standoff between two camps, with the majority supporting mandatory emissions cuts on one side, and opponents such as the United States on the other, delegates said.
Scientists say the world must act quickly to slash greenhouse gas emissions and limit the rise in global temperatures or risk triggering devastating droughts and flooding, strangling world food production and killing off animal species.
Washington's isolation in Bali has increased following Australia's announcement Monday that it has reversed its opposition to the Kyoto pact and started the ratification process - winning applause at the conference's opening session. That left the U.S. as the only industrialized nation to oppose the agreement.