Copenhagen’s Reflections in U.S

Copenhagen’s Reflections in U.S
(Madan Menon Thottasseri)
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President Obama who is back in U.S after successfully broking a deal at Copenhagen, described the Accord as a "breakthrough" agreement on climate change. He said that the said Accord reached by him with leaders of India and other emerging economies had laid the foundation of international actions to tackle global warming in the years to come.

For the first time in history all of the major economies of the world could come together to accept their responsibility and take action for confronting the threat of climate change, Obama said. "After extremely difficult and complex negotiations, this important breakthrough lays the foundation for international action in the years to come," Obama said in his first public statement on his return from Copenhagen.

This progress did not come easily and we know that progress on this particular aspect of climate change negotiations is not enough, he said referring to the Copenhagen accord reached by the US and BASIC countries in the final hour of the summit. He said "Going forward we're going to have to build on the momentum that we established in Copenhagen to ensure that international action to significantly reduce emissions is sustained and sufficient over time."

The climate accord reached by world leaders in Copenhagen will drive the US Senate to pass its own blueprint to fight global warming in early 2010, key senator John Kerry said.

"This can be a catalysing moment," the Democratic lawmaker, who chairs the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said in a statement after President Barack Obama announced a deal on the sidelines of global talks in Denmark's capital.

"President Obama's hands-on engagement broke through the bickering and sets the stage for a final deal and for Senate passage this spring of major legislation at home," said Kerry, the lead author of the US Senate's stalled bill to battle climate change, on Friday.

The Massachusetts lawmaker hailed Obama's announcement after talks with Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, and South African President Jacob Zuma as "a meeting of the minds."

"These are the four horsemen of a climate change solution. With this in hand, we can work to pass domestic legislation early next year to bring us across the finish line," said Kerry.

Unfortunately The summit would have failed. The modest agreement may help the Osama administration as it presses Congress to pass a landmark climate-change legislation. By not committing the United States to new standards and by insisting on monitoring cuts made by other nations, the administration can say passage of domestic legislation would not put the United States at a competitive disadvantage with other nations, particularly China. In fact, Obama made U.S, indirectly a beneficiary of the Accord!

The Copenhagen Accord should give an impetus to consolidate the global strength instead of further intensifying differences in global views.

Let EU relinquish selfish interests and think beyond Europe and gracefully co-operate with U.S and BASIC BLOC and take the mantle at the ensuing summit to be held in Mexico during mid 2010.

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