DC Hill Update 12/22: Not Done Yet
DC Hill Update 12/22: Not Done Yet
We're Not Done Yet: Although a last minute deal did emerge from the Copenhagen climate talks, it lacks targets and timetables for reducing global warming pollution and it is certainly not the kind of "real deal" that global grassroots have been clamoring for. We will now look at the best roads forward. Part of that includes working within the Congressional timeline, which has seen significant updates as far as both health care and financial regulatory reform.
1. Copenhagen Wraps up
The "Copenhagen Accord" our leaders agreed to falls far short of the fair, ambitious, and binding deal we need to deal with climate change. Even President Obama himself described the Copenhagen Accord as "not enough" to tackle global warming. Failure in Copenhagen highlights more than ever the importance of our work here in the U.S. pressuring our leaders.
By the middle of last week, NGOs and negotiators were expressing their frustration with the lack of transparency and progress in the negotiations. COP President Connie Hedegaard was replaced by Danish Prime Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen, a new Danish text was floated that looked to circumvent the negotiations up until that point, and two major international NGOs, Avaaz and Friends of the Earth, had been kicked out of the conference all together.
In response, international youth organized a sit-in where they read the names of the more than 11 million people worldwide who had signed a petition calling for a fair, ambitious, and binding global agreement.
Last Thursday, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton announced the willingness of the United States to contribute to a $100 billion dollar annual fund by 2020 for developing nations.
A day prior, Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack, announced that the U.S. would contribute $1 billion dollars to a $3.5 joint fund from 2010-2012 "as initial public finance towards slowing, halting and eventually reversing deforestation in developing countries".
2. Copenhagen Reaction Pieces
- 1Sky: World Leaders Fail to Deliver a Critically Needed Deal to Tackle Global Warming
- Center for American Progress: Why the newly inked Copenhagen Accord boosts the odds for Senate passage of bipartisan climate and clean energy jobs legislation
- Grist: Copenhagen outcome: a real climate catastrophe
- NRDC: Key Countries Agreed to Copenhagen Accord to Address Global Warming
- CQ: Nonbinding Climate Deal May Aid Senate Bill
- Time: Lessons From the Copenhagen Climate Talks
- NYT Editorial: Copenhagen, and Beyond
3. What comes Next?
The "Copenhagen Accord" is designed to be a precursor to a more firm agreement to be finalized at the next conference of parties to be held in Mexico City in 2010. A date has yet to be set, but conventional wisdom suggests that this convention will be most successful if it falls after passage of U.S. climate legislation, scheduled to be taken up in early spring of 2010.
One interesting development at Copenhagen is that the final accord reached by world leaders sidestepped much of the formal UN process. Some argue that direct negotiation between major economies (i.e., the US, India, and China) is more efficient, while others argue that ditching the UN process disenfranchises smaller economies that have the most to lose from a weaker deal.
4. Senator Lisa Murkowski Seeks To Block EPA Endangerment Finding
Last week Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) filed for a resolution of disapproval seeking to overturn the finding that greenhouse gasses are harmful to human health and welfare. This resolution flies in the face of the latest science, climate impacts, and a Supreme Court decision that mandates action by the EPA to reduce carbon pollution. The endangerment finding filed by the EPA means that one way or another, the U.S. will reduce carbon pollution. EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson has made it very clear that she is supportive of Senate climate legislation that reduces climate pollution, but she is also moving forward with some of the more effective Clean Air Act performance standards for automobiles and big polluters, like coal plants and oil refineries.
Murkowski's resolution would have to pass both houses to take effect, but a filibuster-proof vote could potentially come up in the Senate within the next couple months.
5. Second Stimulus, or "Jobs Bill" passes the House
Last week the House passed a "jobs bill" that will invest unused TARP (i.e., "bailout") money in "shovel ready" projects, much like the recovery act that was passed early this year. Unfortunately, not much of the jobs bill will go to fund projects that will create clean energy jobs, like the "cash for caulkers," or "Home Star" program proposed by President Obama.
6. Health Care and Financial Regulatory Reform
In a last-minute compromise, Democratic Senator Ben Nelson from Nebraska (a climate swing as well) left the fence and became the crucial 60th vote needed to pass healthcare reform this weekend. The Senate will continue to stay in session as late as Christmas eve, to defend against procedural maneuvers used by the opposition to try and stop the reforms.
Financial reform has legislation has passed the House, but is still caught in a slow-moving process within the Banking Committee, where Chairman Chris Dodd (D-CT) has asked Senators to work on different sections of the bill in "bipartisan pairs."
7. DC Blizzard
DC was blanketed with almost two feet of snow this weekend. Enough to close schools, shot down airports and public transportation, and embolden global warming deniers.
