The climate talks in Copenhagen will not be the final chance for the world to confront climate change, U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu said. And while the historic negotiations should produce meaningful results on greenhouse gas reductions, he said, negotiators should avoid unrealistic goals.
“You have to bring more people along,” he told reporters during a briefing in Vienna, “So don’t tee it up as now or never.”
World leaders will gather in December in hopes of crafting the successor to the Kyoto Protocol. While some developing nations want richer countries to cut CO2 emissions by 25 to 40 percent from 1990 levels by 2020, Chu said targets that are too aggressive would not likely be approved by U.S. lawmakers.
The U.S., the world’s second-biggest CO2 emitter, has proposed cutting emissions to 1990 levels by 2020, a reduction of about 14 percent from 2007 levels. By setting achievable goals — and improving efficiency — developed nations can prove that green policies won’t hamper the economy, Chu said.
“If you could get all those gains in the first 20, 30 percent reduction in carbon (emissions), just by using energy efficiently,” he said, “you can teach people that there is a path.”
Appearing courtesy of Yale Environment 360.
[photo credit: Flickr]
1 comment
Getting back to 1990 levels of emissions won’t do the trick concerning climate change. This occurs as Europe is working on cuttings its emissions by at least 20 percent and even 30 percent if other nations join.
It can be done, it is just a question of commitment. Sometimes it seems all US politicians are OK with buying a lot of foreign oil at a more and more expensive price.
Likewise, it’s as if they all thing that coal is the nicest solution to create electricity. This occurs as a recent study noted that the country could cut its coal consumption by a whopping 62 percent by 2020.
I wrote previously that energy efficiency measures could save America 1.2 TRILLION dollars by 2020. This would cut US emissions by 23 percent. (except transportation).
America freed Europe in the 40s, sent people on the Moon in the 60s, why couldn’t they commit themselves to such a project in the 2000s ? It can be done and it would benefit America and the world as a whole.
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