US, China Near Secret Climate Deal

The West's getting the blame, but Beijing's the real villain here

(NEWSER) - Barack Obama is getting the blame for the limp Copenhagen deal, but Mark Lynas knows it was China that really scuttled it—because he watched it happen. Sitting in on the closed-door meetings, the Guardian writer “saw Obama fighting desperately to salvage a deal, and the Chinese delegate saying ‘no,’ over and over again.” China sent a second-tier official to sit opposite the world’s most powerful leaders, forcing them to pause, frequently, while he called his superiors. More»

Copenhagen summit yields basic deal to fight climate change

(NEWSER) - President Obama and the leaders of China, India, and South Africa reached a "meaningful agreement" tonight in Copenhagen on steps to curb greenhouse gas emissions, the White House announced. The deal requires the nations of the world to list their actions to curb emissions and sets up a framework for rich countries to pay poor nations in order to cope with the effects of climate change. The agreement is meant to limit global warming to 2° Celsius. More»

He'll propose 17% cut in US emissions of greenhouse gases

(NEWSER) - Barack Obama will head to Copenhagen on Dec. 9—the day before his Nobel Prize ceremony in Oslo—to advocate for a comprehensive global climate accord. The White House had vacillated on whether Obama should go, since no one expects a legally binding treaty, insiders tell Politico . But Obama decided that he could help build momentum and consensus toward "a meaningful Copenhagen accord." More»

(NEWSER) - When President Obama and South Korean President Lee Myung-bak meet today, they will discuss a host of security and economic issues, but Paul Wolfowitz hopes they take some time out for a purely humanitarian concern: North Korea’s refugees. Hundreds of thousands of North Koreans have fled to China, but “China makes life extraordinarily difficult for refugees,” he writes in the Wall Street Journal. More»

Ready with targets, no specifics, ahead of Paris talks

(NEWSER) - President Bush is expected to propose intermediate goals for reducing greenhouse gas emissions today on the eve of climate change negotiations in Paris. The goals won't include proposed legislation or specifics on changes needed to reach the targets, reports the Washington Post. He will also reiterate his opposition to mandatory emissions standards that don't apply to India and China. More»