Boycotts on either side of the Atlantic on Tuesday showed just how difficult it will be to clinch an agreement on global warming next month.
At U.N. climate talks in Barcelona, Spain, African nations walked out of meetings to protest rich nations’ reluctance to make substantial carbon-cutting commitments. In Washington, some conservative Republicans boycotted the start of committee debate on a bill to curb greenhouse gases, fearful of the cost to the U.S. economy.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel, in a bid to support the Democratic-sponsored climate bill, told a rare joint session of Congress that “there is no time to lose” in tackling climate change.
But the lukewarm response to her comments on global warming — in contrast to the ovations she received at other times — only underscored the skeptical mood in the United States about climate action, which would require a shift away from fossil fuels to wind and solar power, smaller cars, and — the Republicans argue — more expense to consumers.
GOP senators on the Environment and Public Works Committee shunned the planned startup of voting on amendments to the bill.
Only Sen. George Voinovich, R-Ohio, showed up, and he stayed only 15 minutes to give the reasons for the Republicans’ absence.
African countries ended a boycott of meetings in Spain at U.N. climate negotiations, having reset the talks’ agenda to spend more time on complaints that industrial countries had set carbon-cutting targets too low for reducing global greenhouse-gas emissions.
The parallel actions were elements of a dramatic finale leading up to the 192-nation conference in Copenhagen on Dec. 7-18, which is meant to adopt a treaty regulating carbon emissions that will shake economies around the globe.
The African revolt was largely symbolic, since it was clear that industrial countries cannot alter their positions without high-level political decisions by governments.
But it was a signal that hard-liners would dominate negotiations by the developing countries at the decisive Copenhagen forum, and marked the 50-nation African group as an influential player on the global stage.
The White House and Democratic leaders in Congress have essentially abandoned prospects of getting a climate bill to President Barack Obama’s desk before the Copenhagen meeting.
But they hope a show of progress in the Senate — along with the House having passed a bill and Obama’s call for more fuel-efficient cars — will show the world the U.S. is taking climate change seriously.
Scientists say industrial countries should reduce emissions by 25 percent to 40 percent from 1990 levels by 2020, but the targets announced so far amount to far less than the minimum.
The Africans say new climate studies show the dangers are even greater than thought just a few years ago, and that industrial nations should reduce emissions by at least 40 percent by 2020.
The U.S. delegation has refused to say what its figure will be until it gets a green light from Congress.
Climate negotiators are closely watching events in Washington.
The standoff in the Senate committee was precisely the kind of confrontation that aroused concern among the delegates and calls for the U.S. to declare its intentions before the Copenhagen meeting.
After meeting Merkel in the White House, Obama reiterated his determination to join an international climate regime.
“The United States, Germany and countries around the world, I think, are all beginning to recognize why it is so important that we work in common in order to stem the potential catastrophe that can result if we continue to see global warming continue unabated,” he said.
