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Thursday, December 8, 2011

U.S. Senators Press Obama Administration for Ambitious Deal

by Dean Scott

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 DURBAN, South Africa--U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman John Kerry (D-Mass.) and more than a dozen other senators this week pressed the Obama administration in a letter to work toward an “ambitious outcome” in U.N. climate talks here, including steps to ensure global temperatures do not rise more than 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) above pre-industrial levels.

The Dec. 5 letter was sent by 14 senators to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and was signed by Senate Environment and Public Works Committee Chairman Barbara Boxer, Energy and Natural Resources Committee Chairman Jeff Bingaman (D-N.M.), and Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.).

A pledge to limit the rise in global temperatures to 2 C, made as part of the Cancun Agreements negotiated by more than 190 nations in December 2010 in Mexico, accompanied specific pledges by developed and developing nations to address rising greenhouse gas emissions.

But the 2010 deal lacked an explicit acknowledgment that there is a significant gap between pledged actions and the more ambitious level of emissions cuts needed to meet the target.

All of the senators signing the letter were Democrats, except Sen. Joseph Lieberman (Conn.), an independent who caucuses with the party. The senators vowed in the letter to continue pressing for congressional action to reduce U.S. greenhouse gas emissions.

“With the impacts of climate change occurring more quickly than previously predicted, we are committed to doing our part to transition to a clean energy economy that decreases carbon pollution, creates jobs, and builds resilience in vulnerable communities both at home and abroad,” the letter said.

Full text of the Dec. 5 letter is available at http://kerry.senate.gov/ or http://kerry.senate.gov/press/release/?id=a46909e6-77a8-4a80-9d19-94dae4511823.
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