While President Obama and Chinese President Xi Jinping were all smiles when they signed a climate agreement in Beijing, it all fell apart this week in Peru. (scmp.com)
There they were, President Obama and Chinese President Xi Jinping, all smiles during last month’s APEC summit meeting in Beijing, after signing a commitment to limit greenhouse gas emissions by 2025-2030.
The sight of the two leaders agreeing on the reduction of fossil fuels had to thrill the low-information crowd and, of course, the “greenies.” But it was all for show. A photo op.
Most of us understood the president’s signature on this agreement had no legal force, as he will be long gone and it will be up to future Congresses and presidents to decide on any commitment on emissions. In fact, insiders say the 114th Congress will vote on a resolution disavowing the president’s commitment. Of course, President Obama plans to impose limits on us without a vote of Congress.
The two leaders were excited about the momentum the agreement would have on the United Nation’s December climate conference in Lima, Peru.
(Cartoon courtesy political humor.about.com)
Instead, we saw the momentum come to a halt in Lima as Chinese and Indian delegates demanded that every use of “shall” be changed to “may,” or they would walk. They were also able to strip language that countries should commit to providing “verifiable, transparent, consistent and complete, accurate and comparable information.”
Laughingly, the Lima agreement stated that all countries will receive a United Nations “invitation” to define a carbon-reduction target of their own choosing, whenever they are ready, with no specific goals or consequences if they don’t reply.
Climate control will undoubtedly be a major issue in the 2016 presidential election year. It’s destined to be a winning issue for Republicans, who will confront green Democrats on their support of fewer jobs, more-expensive energy and the never-ending commitment to contributing billions of dollars to climate aid.
