Senator tries to settle doubts about US commitment to emissions cuts but says
China must meet accountability demandsA looming showdown between the US and China dominated the Copenhagen climate change negotiations today even as John Kerry tried to defuse tensions by guaranteeing to get climate change laws through the US Congress.In a heavily attended speech, Kerry, who is leading the effort to get a climate change bill through the Senate, said he was confident of success — if countries at Copenhagen managed to cut a deal."With a successful deal here in Copenhagen, next year, the US Congress – House and Senate – will pass comprehensive
energy and climate legislation that will reduce America's emissions," Kerry said to applause. The unconditional promise from the chair of the Senate foreign relations committee went some distance today to allaying fears that Barack Obama would not be able to deliver on his pledge to cut US emissions.The uncertainty about whether America is really prepared to cut its greenhouse gas emissions, and by how much, has crippled the negotiations. It has allowed developing countries such as China and
India, which will be the big polluters of the future, to stall on committing to their own action, and has bred distrust and resentment from the African and poor countries that will suffer the most from climate change.Obama said last month he would offer a cut of 17% from 2005 figures by 2020 — but it was contingent on legislation going through Congress. Kerry did not allow for any doubts, and said that climate change proposals were picking up support in the Senate and in the business world.But he offered one key caveat: America would not sign on to a deal at Copenhagen — or pass a climate change deal in Congress — unless China and other developing countries meet its demand for accountability on their emissions cuts."In the Senate and in America, the concerns that kept us out of
Kyoto back in 1997 are still with us today, and we need ...
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