The US has assured international negotiators it remains committed to reducing carbon emissions over the next 10 years, despite the collapse of efforts to legislate a climate bill.
US delegate Jonathan Pershing told a climate conference in Bonn, Germany, that Washington is not backing away from US President Barack Obama’s pledge to cut emissions 17 percent from 2005 levels.
Pershing said legislation is the preferred way to control greenhouse gases, but the administration “will use all the tools available” to reach its target.
Obama made the pledge at a climate summit in Copenhagen in December last year, and affirmed it in a formal note to the UN climate secretariat. At the time, the US House of Representatives had passed a climate bill and the US Senate had been broadly expected to follow suit.
However, the withdrawal of a scaled down climate bill last week in the Senate raised concern about the US’ commitment to fight global warming and disappointed developing countries that had hoped Obama would seize international leadership on the issue.
The EU said the failure of the bill encumbered its talks among its own 27 member states on whether the EU should increase its pledge to rein in the gases blamed for global warming.
“It hasn’t made the discussion and the debate any easier in Europe,” said Artur Runge-Metzger, the European commissioner for climate change.
The EU has promised to cut emissions by 20 percent below 1990 over the next decade, but said it would raise its target to 30 percent if the US and other major polluters adopt similarly tough goals.
Delegations from 178 countries began five days of work on Monday, resuming painstaking discussions on an agreement to limit global emissions and prepare poor countries for the effects of a warming world.
Delegates pointed to the lethal floods in Pakistan as an example of the extreme weather events that scientists say will become more common as temperatures rise.
As if to underscore the global warming threat, UN officials lifted the coat-and-tie rules for the week, citing soaring temperatures in Bonn and a desire to lower the air conditioning to reduce the conference’s emissions.
One more round of talks is scheduled in Tianjin, China, in October before the next major climate conference from Nov. 29 to Dec. 10 in Cancun, Mexico.
Acknowledging widespread concern over the US position, Pershing said many delegates had asked him about the status of its pledge and the chances of a deal in Cancun.
“Success in Cancun does not hinge on US legislation,” he told some 3,000 delegates, businessmen and activists attending the talks.
Environmental groups warned that the setback in the US should not deter other countries, and called on the EU to take the lead.
“Parties should not allow US domestic politics to lower the overall level of ambition of an international agreement,” said Manuel Oliva, of Conservation International.
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