US, China need to lead on climate: US senator (Kerry)

[ProSense]

US, China need to lead on climate: US senator

WASHINGTON (AFP) – A solid partnership between China and the United States will be key to assuring an effective global response to the threat posed by a changing climate, US Senator John Kerry said.

Kerry, who chairs the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said he was encouraged by his recent discussions in Beijing with senior Chinese officials, business leaders and scientists on the issue.

"Our words and our actions will set the tone," he said at a hearing with experts on China and climate change. "Washington and Beijing will inevitably lead by example."

With the world's largest economy, the United States has historically been the biggest emitter of the greenhouse gases blamed for climate change, but it recently has been overtaken by China.

The United States and China alone are responsible for nearly half the planet's carbon emissions, said Kerry.

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[karynnj]

1. In addition to Senator Kerry, President Obama may personally lead on this

The NYT has an article where Stony Hoyer is quoted as saying that President Obama may attend the Copenhagen conference.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=132&topic_id=8452107&mesg_id=8452107

[karynnj]

2. Here is a link to view the hearing that is described in the article

http://foreign.senate.gov/hearings/2009/hrg090604a.html

The hearing was interesting - here are a few things I got from it:

In addition to the quotes in the article, Kerry spoke of the need to fill out the UN's "common but differentiated responsibilities" meanings and to define the Bali/Poznan "measurable, reportable, verifiable" goals.

He also stressed what China had already done. While there, he spoke of riding a 200mph HSR that replaced a dirtier, slower deisel train. He said, though, that Nancy Pelosi rode a 300 mph HSR train in Shanghai. I think he said they were mag lev. He compared this to the US, where only 18 miles of the DC to Boston route can travel at the 150 mph that the train is capable of doing.

He mentioned that the Chinese have invested $200B on green energy - compared to the $80B we put in the stimulus package. He said the tripled wind and quintupled solar. He said that they are finding some of this change easier than they thought it would be.

In earlier an earlier NYT article ( http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/29/world/asia/29pelosi.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=China%20Kerry%20global%20warming&st=cse ), Kerry was much more optimistic than Pelosi and some of the others, but from the comments - I think it is because Kerry is looking at what they have done and the difference in the way they are engaging now compared to decades ago - while they are looking at pollution levels, which are increasing as China increases its development.

Kerry mentioned that he would be meeting with the special envoy, Stern, and Holdren on his meetings in China

[ProSense]

3. Cool, thanks.

The U.S. definitely needs to invest more in HSR.

[karynnj]

4. I think it would be great - I know I would replace driving to

either Boston or DC with it. (I'm in the NYC area)