Next Up: Paris, Bonn, Bangkok… Copenhagen

It’s official. The UN has scheduled extra sessions this year to make sure delegates have time to reach a deal by December. The extra time is critical but the schedule is brutal: June and August in Bonn, September in Bangkok, November somewhere TBD and then three weeks of rest until Copenhagen.

Along with the UN talks, the Major Economies Forum, re-convened by Obama last month, will meet again in May in Paris and in July for the G-8 summit in Italy. So the world’s 16 biggest greenhouse gas polluters — US, EU, China, India, Brazil, etc — will talk climate every month from now until December.

The momentum is astounding… and I say that with all due respect for the work that lies ahead and the tough odds of getting 192 nations to agree on anything.

But looking back just six months, I couldn’t even have imagined that the US president would 1) stand up and pledge to fight global warming and then 2) name a special climate envoy and 3) start talking about how to re-build a new sustainable clean global economy.

Then imagine that 4) China would like this idea, and get into a race with the US to see who could build the most wind turbines. And 5) countries like Brazil and Mexico would come forward with proposals to cap their national emissions.

So bring on the meetings. We can catch up on sleep in 2010.

This entry was posted in Bonn. Bookmark the permalink. Trackbacks are closed, but you can post a comment.

Post a Comment

You must be logged in to post a comment.