Recession, Doubts About U.S. Cloud Outlook for 2009 Climate Pact

Hopes for a new international treaty on greenhouse gas reductions by late 2009 may be unrealistic because of the global economic recession and doubts about whether the incoming Obama administration will be able to convince the new Congress to ratify climate legislation, according to delegates to U.N. climate talks in Poznan, Poland. World leaders had set a 2009 deadline to allow time for ratification before the Kyoto Protocols expire in 2012. Complicating that target, however, is uncertainty over just what kind of commitment the United States will be willing to make, said Elliot Diringer, director of international strategies for the Pew Center on Global Climate Change. Diringer told the Washington Post that it’s unrealistic to believe President-elect Obama will get a commitment from Congress on a national carbon cap before the U.N. conference scheduled for late 2009 in Copenhagen. Robert Stavins, professor of business and government at Harvard, said an agreement on principles for negotiation would be “a suitable aspiration and a great achievement” in Copenhagen. Some experts believe, however, the Copenhagen meeting could still yield an actual agreement.