United Nations Struggle As US and China Clash

Well, it's a hot one........

The US and China are not getting along this week at the UN Climate Conference being held this week in Tianjin, China. Both countries are having issues with commitments to reduce green house gases (GHG). This comes on the heels of the UN’s IMO-Marine Environmental Protection Committee (MEPC) 61st meeting in London last week, which failed to come up with any resolution for ship emissions. Perhaps, MEPC is waiting for the “Conference of Parties 16" (COP 16) meetings in Cancun, Mexico in late November to provide some guidance.

COP 15 was held in Copenhagen December 2009 and it has been called an utter failure. Only about 12,000 delegates of the 45,000 accredited participants could get into the forum and the event turned out to be nothing more than a screaming, dissenting mass of humanity from all parts of the world. The non-governmental organizations or NGOs, which like to be called “civil societies,” whined about everything on the agenda and stormed the conference halls hoping to disrupt the meetings. And, COP 15 was really an event about “us and them” as much wealthier nations, US-EU, pushed on the G77 led by Sudan to meet high emission controls and be monitored. That didn’t sit well with many countries, especially China, who pointed out the US has absolutely no right to demand anything from anybody until Capitol Hill passes some form of GHG legislation.

Consequently, the meetings in Tianjin this week, which is China’s first UN hosted event, have become a “nothing is agreed upon until everything is agreed upon” event. UN organizers are preparing for the COP 16 meetings by working on negotiation points for Mexico, and dealing with industrial nations Kyoto commitments for further reductions in emissions by 2012. In the meantime, China and the US are irritated with one another’s agenda at the meetings. The US claims China is renegotiating COP 15 agreements and China is accusing the US of stalling the talks until developing nations get onboard with GHG reduction amounts and monitoring agreements.

Tianjin is China’s most eco-friendly city and a showcase for investments that have reduced the country’s carbon footprint. The city has coal plants with equipment to capture carbon dioxides and a high speed rail system to rival any in the world. While the event is made up of technocrats minus the NGOs, nothing is being accomplished in terms of pledges to reduce GHGs. The US envoy, Jonathan Pershing, has made it clear that the deadlock could force the US and others to pursue alternative mechanisms to address GHG emissions.

China is irritated with the US for not providing its share of technology and financing for developing countries to meet their targeted emissions reductions. And, for its finger pointing while lacking any domestic legislation for the reduction of GHGs. China’s head man at the event, Xie Zhenhua, said “US actions are totally outrageous and quite unacceptable.”

Meanwhile, NOAA recently reported that 2010 has been the second warmest year on record behind 1998. The records go back to 1880. The combined land and ocean temperature was 1.19 degrees Fahrenheit above the 20th century average. The January to July temperatures were the warmest ever recorded and NOAA predicts the El Nino effects will continue to strengthen throughout 2010 and well into 2011. Countries like Australia, Russia, Finland and China have reported much higher temperatures above normal expectations during 2010. This was the 14th consecutive year with sea ice below average, which is valued at 16.9 percent or 1.71 million square kilometers reduction.

If nothing is accomplished in China this week it will leave the COP 16 in a quandary later this year in Mexico. China is making a genuine effort to meet its goal of 20 percent improvement in energy intensity per unit of GDP by 2010 and by 40 to 45 percent by 2020. Meanwhile, the US is still procrastinating about getting something done on climate control legislation. Few believe that any agreements will be made in Tianjin, but one thing is for sure China is calling the US out for backtracking on its commitments.

Tony Munoz is the editor-in-chief of the Maritime Executive Magazine and the MarEx Newsletter. He can be contacted at [email protected] with comments, input and questions on this editorial.