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Weary Delegates Set Emissions Cuts for Developed Nations
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"This will enhance our growth, create new opportunities for technology and create a level playing field for U.S. industry," said Stuart E. Eizenstat, undersecretary of state for economic, business and agricultural affairs, who heads the American delegation. "This is a historic first step."
In a victory for the Clinton administration, the pact includes an endorsement of market-based mechanisms that will encourage innovation and lower the cost of compliance for businesses and consumers. The agreement creates a means by which companies in rich nations can provide technology and money to help cut emissions at power plants and other polluting sites in underdeveloped nations. Administration officials argue that such joint ventures reduce emissions in the poorer nations and act as "a bridge" toward eventually involving them in a more comprehensive program of emissions reductions.
But in a setback for the United States, a decision on many details of programs affecting the more than 130 developing nations at the conference was delayed for at least a year -- until next November's global climate summit in Buenos Aires. The postponement was forced by stubborn opposition from key developing countries, chiefly India and China, which made a last-minute stand against the proposals.
Developing countries also rejected more ambitious calls to curb the growth of their own greenhouse gas emissions. Clinton administration officials had repeatedly called for "meaningful participation by key developing nations" in the treaty, a goal that Eizenstat said the Kyoto conference has not met.
"It appeared almost as if some wanted to block any deal at any cost," Eizenstat said. He said American officials had met six times this year with Chinese officials to argue for the U.S. position but that the Chinese could not be persuaded that emissions cuts would not harm China's economic development or its drive to eradicate poverty.
The failure of developing nations to take stronger action raises serious questions about whether the treaty can win Senate ratification, but in any case it may be years before the Senate gets to consider it. The most contentious issues postponed today will be referred to sub-groups of the conference for study and more debate before being presented next year in Buenos Aires.
