The Global Sociology Blog

John Quiggin at Crooked Timber had this to say on the Bali UN Conference on climate change:

clipped from crookedtimber.org

The outcome of the international climate talks in Bali has been a huge win for the planet. Given the participation of the Bush Administration, we were never going to get firm short-term targets in the agreement of this round of negotiations (except as the result of a US walkout, and a deal struck by the rest of the world). But on just about every other score, the outcome has been better than anyone could reasonably have expected, including:

• Agreement in principle on a 2050 target of halving emissions
• Agreement to negotiate a binding deal in 2009, when Bush will be gone, and short-term targets back on the table
• Agreement to provide assistance to developing countries for both mitigation and adaptation
• Agreement by China to pursue emissions-cutting actions that are “measurable, reportable and verifiable.”

This is the first optimistic assessment of the Bali conference that I have seen. John Quiggin also lists the winners and losers:

Winners

• Al Gore for pointing out the stalling strategy of the United States
• Newly-elected Australian PM Kevin Rudd; under the previous administration, Australia was the only other rich country to not ratify the Kyoto Protocols. Australia has now reversed its stance.

Losers, as Quigging puts it: “They know who they are.”

This actually ties in nicely with my review of Amy Chua’s book yesterday. At this conference, the US clearly adopted its unilateral or “multilateralism as surrender” attitude, with a willingness to completely derail the talks. This triggered hostile reactions:

clipped from www.telegraph.co.uk

The killer blow came from the Harvard-educated representative of Papua New Guinea, Kevin Conrad, who used Mr Connaughton’s diplomatic gaffe of earlier in the week to humiliate the Americans.

Mr Connaughton had said: “We will lead. We will continue to lead but leadership also requires others to fall in line and follow.”
Mr Conrad said, to applause: “If you are not willing to lead, then get out of the way.”

Miss Dobriansky finally pressed her button to speak again and said: “We will go forward and join the consensus.”