Anger Grows Against China Among Some Climate Delegates Among Copenhagen Rubble

[hatrack]

An outbreak of bitter recrimination has erupted among politicians and delegates following the drawing up of the Copenhagen accord for tackling climate change. The deal, finally hammered out early yesterday, had been expected to commit countries to deep cuts in carbon emissions. In the end, it fell short of this goal after China fought hard against strong US pressure to submit to a regime of international monitoring.

The Chinese prime minister, Wen Jiabao, walked out of the conference at one point, and sent a lowly protocol officer to negotiate with Barack Obama. In the end, a draft agreement put forward by China – and backed by Brazil, India and African nations – commits the world to the broad ambition of preventing global temperatures from rising above 2C. Crucially, however, it does not force any nation to make specific cuts. "For the Chinese, this was our sovereignty and our national interest," said Xie Zhenhua, head of China's delegation.

Last night, some delegates were openly critical of China for its intransigence. Asked by the Observer who was to blame for blocking the introduction of controlled emissions, the director general of the Swedish environment protection agency, Lars-Erik Liljelund, replied: "China. China doesn't like numbers." At the same time, others have criticised the Americans for pushing China too hard.

"President Obama's speech blaming China didn't help," says John Prescott, writing in today's Observer. The accord was formally recognised after a dramatic all-night plenary session, during which the Danish chairman was forced to step aside, a Venezuelan delegate cut her hand, and Britain's climate and energy secretary, Ed Miliband, salvaged the deal just as it appeared on the verge of being rejected.

EDIT

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/dec/20/china-blamed-copenhagen-climate-failure

[FreakinDJ]

1. See - its not just me

[joshcryer]

2. I thought China was going to show leadership?

I read so many posts here about China showing leadership. :(

[muriel_volestrangler]

3. Most suspect moment- when China said Europe adopting a tough 2050 target for itself was unacceptable

Around 8pm, after the second of these bilateral meetings, Obama returned to the negotiating room saying he had secured an agreement from Wen on the key issue of how promises to cut emissions would be verified by the international community. But a new fight then erupted in which China bizarrely insisted that Europe lower its targets for greenhouse gas emissions.

Merkel wanted to set a target for developed nations to cut emissions by 80% by 2050, but in the last gasp, China declared this unacceptable. This astonished many of those present: China was telling rich nations to rein back on their long-term commitment. The assumed reason was that China will have joined their ranks by 2050 and does not want to meet such a target. "Ridiculous," exclaimed Merkel as she was forced to abandon the target.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/dec/20/copenhagen-climate-global-warming

[joshcryer]

5. "China was telling rich nations to rein back on their long-term commitment." Exactly!

If we take responsibility for our emissions, that means we have to take responsibility for the emissions that we contribute to developing nations (primarily China, overwhelmingly). China does not want us to do this under any circumstances, it would destroy their development.

[wuvuj]

4. It's so pathetic...it's almost funny....

...if China/India get anywhere near the energy consumption per capita of the US now....people will be wearing gas masks and the stuff they make will be so expensive that no one could buy it.

We near the brick wall....see it up ahead?

[joshcryer]

6. That's not possible, the US is spread out, as more people immigrate and population goes up...

...efficiency becomes more apparent and US per capita usage drops. Once the US is more like EU as far as population spread is concerned we will have a similar imprint per capita.

[wuvuj]

7. We would HOPE that the US per capita...

...consumption goes down over time...but expect this to be more than offset by an increase in China/India/Africa.

Also...the US will never become as densely packed as Europe due to the lack of water in the west? And...as global warming changes take place...ag land/water will become more valuable...and the room left for people will diminish.

[Karenina]

8. Will I be flogged for remarking that Obama's behaviour

was the most crass I've seen from him on the international stage? I could not believe my eyes, ears or the INTERNETS!!!
:eyes: