I Saw China Wreck the Copenhagen Talks

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»

Copenhagen deal creates 'league of super-polluters'

(NEWSER) - The Copenhagen climate deal President Obama struck with China, India and South Africa flies in the face of progressive values, environmental writer Bill McKibben rages. Here’s how:

• Obama made the UN obsolete: “The clear point is, you poor nations can spout off all you want on questions like human rights or the role of women or fighting polio or handling refugees. But when you get too close to the center of things that count—the fossil fuel that’s at the center of our economy—you can forget about it.”

Negotiators appear ready to extend, build on Kyoto protocol

(NEWSER) - New draft proposals at the Copenhagen summit have renewed optimism that negotiators will find consensus on a substantial deal. One plan would renew and extend the Kyoto protocol—this time, presumably, with a US endorsement—which is set to expire in 2012. Another draft proposal, framed as a "Kyoto companion" calls for more action from developing countries, which get something of a pass in the Kyoto agreement. More»

China, India helped draft leaked agreement they railed against

(NEWSER) - The “Danish text”—the leaked climate change agreement that infuriated developing nations in Copenhagen and sparked accusations of bullying by rich countries—was actually drafted by a group that included China, India, and Brazil, among other countries. They had “input into the process and product” of the agreement, which seeks to impose stricter limits on developing nations’ emissions, an insider tells the Los Angeles Times . More»