White House officials said President Obama will make commitments to address climate change at Tuesday’s United Nations climate summit to show other nations that his administration intends to lead on the issue.
“We are taking this summit seriously,” White House adviser John Podesta said on a Thursday conference call with reporters.
The summit, which is being held on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly, isn’t part of the formal U.N. negotiation process, but is viewed as a momentum builder leading into next year’s talks in Paris. Nations there will seek an agreement that cuts enough carbon emissions by 2020 to avoid a 2 degree Celsius temperature rise by 2100. Most climate scientists blame carbon emissions for global warming, mainly through burning fossil fuels.
Podesta noted that Obama will hold several bilateral meetings and that he will address the U.N. General Assembly. But he said observers shouldn’t expect any carbon-cutting targets beyond 2020, which are due by the first quarter of 2015.
“He will not be unveiling our post-2020 commitment,” Podesta said. “That will come later, as has been noted.”
Todd Stern, the State Department’s chief climate negotiator, said conference attendees have more ambition to tackle climate change heading into the summit compared with the 2009 negotiations in Copenhagen.
“I think that there is some greater sense of perhaps realism as well as ambition among parties than perhaps there was in 2009,” Stern said. “I think at the same time, these negotiations are always difficult.”
Some observers have said the absences of China’s and India’s leaders are dimming the summit’s potential impact. Podesta countered that China will send its vice premier, who will coordinate with the Chinese government during the Paris negotiations, and that climate change will be discussed when Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi visits Washington the next week.
Stern said the summit presents an opportunity for the U.S. to showcase its leadership. He said the nation is “absolutely” held in better standing around the world on the issue because of recent Obama administration actions, such as a proposed rule that aims to cut power plant emissions 30 percent below 2005 levels by 2030.
Stern, however, wouldn’t speculate on what kind of climate agreement the administration would seek in Paris. Media reports have said the administration is looking for a “politically binding” pact that wouldn’t require Senate ratification — the chances of getting 67 senators to approve a climate treaty are slim, given opposition from Republicans and centrist Democrats. The European Union slammed that idea, with its outgoing climate chief saying the treaty should be binding, no matter the domestic difficulties.
“What the form of this agreement is going to be is a matter that’s completely open for question and discussion,” Stern said. “There’s certainly going to be a legal agreement of some kind.”
Podesta would not reveal what specific pledges the United States planned to make. The measures Obama will announce will more likely help nations deal with the effects of climate change, rather than moves that might significantly curtail manmade emissions.
Podesta said Obama will make U.S. federal tools, mapping and data available to other nations to help prepare for rising sea levels, drought and other extreme weather that has been linked to climate change. Stern said the U.S. will make other announcements — such as an agreement by six oil companies to use hydraulic fracturing techniques aimed at reducing emissions of methane, a potent greenhouse gas — as well.
“Negotiations are very important, but they’re only part of the puzzle,” Stern said.
