Pointing Fingers the Wrong Way

President Barack Obama's chief climate change negotiator has issued a warning over the future of the Kyoto protocol, casting doubt on a key plank of international climate talks this December in South Africa.

Todd Stern, the US president's envoy for climate change, said the European Union was the only remaining "major player" that would potentially support a continuation of the protocol after its provisions expire in 2012. The lack of support from other countries bodes ill for the forthcoming talks at Durban.

The Kyoto protocol is an international agreement that imposes limits on the greenhouse gas emissions from some signee countries that was negotiated in the Japanese city of Kyoto in 1997.

Kyoto is the only treaty which binds nearly all of the world's industrialised countries to cut their greenhouse gas emissions but Stern cast doubt on its future.

"Of the major players in the Kyoto protocol, my sense is that the EU is the only one still considering signing up in some fashion to a second commitment period. Japan is clearly not, Russia is not, Canada is not and Australia appears unlikely."

His words were the broadest hint yet by one of the most influential figures at the talks that the negotiations may stall unless the Kyoto protocol is dropped.
~ from Obama's Envoy for Climate Change Casts Doubt on Kyoto Protocol by Fiona Harvey ~

The way this story reads a person might think that the US envoy was lamenting a possible defeat for the environment. To date, the Kyoto Protocol has represented the strongest commitment by the nations of the world to deal with climate change/global warming head-on. While many climate scientists and activists contend that this protocol doesn't go far enough, it was at least a start in the right direction.

The unfortunate thing is that Todd Stern is not lamenting the protocol's impending demise; he is gloating about it!! While almost every other nation in the world has ratified the protocol, the US has not and so the US government is gleeful that more national governments want to back away from it.

You see, when it comes to environmental issues like climate change, the US doesn't favor any type of agreement that will impede corporate profits. Instead of fixed mandates, the US favors voluntary standards with Corporate America serving as their own watchdogs. In other words, the US wants a plan that will not impact business as usual!!!