[greenyes] Administration Position on Eight Nation Effort to Curb Global Warming

["Peter Anderson" <anderson@no.address>]

 washingtonpost.com
U.S. Wants No Warming Proposal
Administration Aims to Prevent Arctic Council Suggestions
By Juliet Eilperin
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, November 4, 2004; Page A13


The Bush administration has been working for months to keep an upcoming 
eight-nation report from endorsing broad policies aimed at curbing global 
warming, according to domestic and foreign participants, despite the group's 
conclusion that Arctic latitudes are facing historic increases in 
temperature, glacial melting and abrupt weather changes.

State Department representatives have argued that the group, which has spent 
four years examining Arctic climate fluctuations, lacks the evidence to 
prepare detailed policy proposals. But several participants in the 
negotiations, all of whom requested anonymity for fear of derailing the Nov. 
24 report, said officials from the eight nations and six indigenous tribes 
involved in the effort had ample science on which to draft policy.

The recommendations are based on a study, which was leaked last week, that 
concludes the Arctic is warming much faster than other areas of the world 
and that much of this change is linked to human-generated greenhouse gas 
emissions. The Arctic Climate Impact Assessment -- produced by a council of 
nations with Arctic territory that includes the United States, Canada, 
Russia and several Nordic countries -- reflects the work of more than 300 
scientists.

Several individuals close to the negotiations said the Bush 
administration -- which opposes mandatory cuts in carbon emissions on the 
grounds that they will cost American jobs -- had repeatedly resisted even 
mild language that would endorse the report's scientific findings or call 
for mandatory curbs on greenhouse gas emissions.

An early draft of the policy statement -- which is set to be issued two 
weeks after the 144-page scientific overview is released Monday -- included 
a paragraph saying that to achieve the goals set under a 1992 international 
climate change treaty known as the Rio Accord, the "Arctic Council urges the 
member states to individually and when appropriate, jointly, adopt climate 
change strategies across relevant sectors. These strategies should aim at 
the reduction of the emission of greenhouse gases."

The administration has pushed to drop that section. As one senior State 
Department official who asked not to be identified put it, "We're bound by 
the administration's position. We're not going to make global climate policy 
at the Arctic Council."

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