European politicians at a carbon conference today in Copenhagen had an 800-pound gorilla on stage with them.Copenhagen, March 12, 2008, Norway’s Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg and Denmark’s Minister for Climate and Energy Connia Hedegaard both hail from Scandinavian countries that have taken aggressive measures to fight climate change. They both made passionate pleas for the world to join together to cut emissions. But the gorilla remains—how to get developing countries and major emitters like India and China to join in?
The U.S. has long argued that China, now arguably the world’s biggest emitter, has to play ball in any global climate-change accord. Even the OECD says developing countries have to cut emissions to avoid the worst impacts of global warming. The trick is how they can pay for it and still manage economic growth, which countries like China and India say is key to alleviating poverty. For Denmark’s Ms. Hedegaard, the question is pressing: Her country will host the next round of negotiations in 2009 on a new international system to cut greenhouse gas emissions, following last year’s conference in Bali. “I’m neither an optimist nor a pessimist,” she said before an audience of some 1,700 at the conference. “I’m a realist. It should not be impossible to get an agreement in Copenhagen.” More>>>
