President Barack Obama reported today to the press that a "meaningful" deal had been reached on climate change at the Copenhagen Summit. The arrangement included a mutual agreement between countries such as the United States, China, South Africa, and India to curb global warming, or "climate change," and reportedly includes a means by which to verify any reductions of emissions believed to cause global warming. It also required that each of the countries in the agreement must list the actions and specific amounts by which it will decrease global warming pollution.
Despite President Obama's claims of a meaningful agreement between the larger nations on climate change, however, the deal simply restates the goal for long term emissions cuts set earlier this year, and provides a mechanism to help poorer, developing countries "prepare" for climate change. Critics of the agreement note that the U.S. emissions-reduction commitment "purposely mirrors" legislation already before Congress, calling for a 17 percent cut in emissions by 2020. Some speculate that any further action or larger target by President Obama on the matter may endanger final passage of the Cap and Trade bill, passed by the House, and endanger any Senate ratification of global climate change treaties in the future.
Said French President Nicholas Sarkozy regarding the climate deal, "We have an agreement. The text we have is not perfect."
In the agreement, Sarkozy told reporters at a news conference, all countries, including China, must not only submit written plans for curbs in carbon dioxide emissions by January 2010, but also sign a plan that provides developing nations with $100 billion a year in aid (emphasis added) by the year 2020.
According to an article by Helene Cooper and John M. Broder of the New York Times, even this deal is considered unsatisfactory to many, and hardly the "meaningful" arrangement that President Obama claims on behalf of climate change activists and their cause. Indeed, the Times writers state that the agreement "falls short" of even the recent meager expectations prior to the Copenhagen summit. An official from the Obama administration went so far as to admit, "It is not sufficient to combat the threat of climate change, but it’s an important first step.”
A potentially legally binding treaty has yet to be reached in Copenhagen or voted upon in Congress.
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