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UP FRONTTuesday 1 December 2015

World leaders vow to save Earth Top carbon culprits US, China,
from overheating India debate nuances of roles

Continued from Front clearly reflect that industri- sions — twice as much as NANCY BENAC
alized nations bear the big- the United States. Beijing Associated Press
While the specifics have gest responsibility for the has pledged to put a ceil- LE BOURGET, France (AP) — Call them the culprits of
yet to be worked out, the problem. ing on its emissions around carbon.
pact is meant to chart a President Barack Obama 2030 as part of the latest Leaders of the United States, China and India — the
path toward reduced reli- offered assurances that negotiations. world’s top three carbon polluters — engaged in some
ance on coal, oil and gas the U.S. isn’t trying to shirk Developing countries say private diplomacy Monday on the sidelines of the in-
and expanded use of re- its duty. they need financial support ternational climate change conference. And while
newable energy such as “I’ve come here person- and technology to make each spoke of a shared interest in reducing green-
wind and solar power. ally, as the leader of the the transition to cleaner house gas emissions, members of the trio differed in
The negotiations will fo- world’s largest economy energy. On the bustling first nuance. Each has to attend to his own interests. A look
cus on whether emissions and the second-largest day of the conference, a at the geopolitics of climate change, as practiced by
targets should be binding emitter, to say that the Unit- number of such initiatives President Barack Obama, Chinese President Xi Jinping
ed States of America not were announced, includ- and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi:
WHO’S NO. 1?
President Barack Obama, left, sits with French President Francois Hollande, right, as they have China gets the distinction of top billing among carbon
dinner at the Ambroisie restaurant in Paris, France, with Secretary of State John Kerry, 2nd right, polluters, having overtaken the U.S. as its economy has
French Minister for Ecology, Sustainable Development and Energy Segolene Royal, 3rd right, and rapidly expanded. It accounts for about 28 percent of
French Foreign Minister, Laurent Fabius, 3rd left, Monday, Nov. 30, 2015. Obama is in France for global emissions. The U.S. is second at 14 percent.In-
a two-day visit as part of the COP21, the United Nations Climate Change conference. Other of- dia places third, at 7 percent. Those 2013 numbers are
ficials are : Translator, Thomas Ronkin, 2nd left, Charles Kupchan, top left, and French President the latest figures from the U.S. Energy Department’s
Hollande’s Military Chief of Staff General Benoit Puga, top right. Carbon Dioxide Information Analysis Center. New fig-
ures come out next week.
(AP Photo/Thibault Camus, Pool) OBAMA’S “RESPONSIBILITY”
The president said the U.S. “not only recognizes our
or voluntary and how to only recognizes our role in ing one backed by 19 gov- role in creating this problem, we embrace our respon-
verify that countries are hit- creating this problem, we ernments and 28 leading sibility to do something about it.” His administration
ting their targets. Another embrace our responsibility global investors, including has pledged to reduce U.S. emissions to 26 percent to
big issue will be how to to do something about it,” Bill Gates and Facebook’s 28 percent below 2005 levels within 10 years — if the
provide the finance and Obama told the confer- Mark Zuckerberg. Republican-controlled Congress or the courts don’t
technology that develop- ence. Their initiative would pro- block him or his successors reverse him.
ing countries will need to Statistics since 1959 from vide billions of dollars in But Obama also wants developing nations to share
reduce their emissions and the U.S. Department of investments to research responsibility for fixing it by limiting their future green-
cope with the effects of ris- Energy show the United and develop clean en- house gas emissions. He said they need to “skip the
ing seas, intensifying heat States has been by far ergy technology, with the dirty phase of development” and go straight to clean-
waves and floods. the biggest emitter of car- ultimate goal of making er technologies. And that could be costly. There’s a
“The future of the people bon dioxide, the top man- it cheaper and more reli- long-running dispute over whether developing nations
of the world, the future made greenhouse gas. It able. Many of the leaders should share the same burden as industrialized nations,
of our planet, is in your has released about 258 said the world must keep and neither Xi nor Modi fully embraced Obama’s all-
hands,” U.N. Secretary- trillion tons of carbon di- the average temperature in-it-together message. Obama did acknowledge
General Ban Ki-moon told oxide over the past half- within 1 degree C (1.8 de- “you cannot forge a climate agreement without tak-
negotiators in his opening century, compared with grees F) of current levels ing into consideration the level of development.”
remarks. “We cannot af- China’s 158 trillion tons, — and, if possible, to half XI’S “RESPECT”
ford indecision, half mea- the figures show. China is that, to spare island na- China has had a change in mindset since being
sures or merely gradual ap- catching up, though, and tions threatened by rising accused of obstructing climate talks in Copenha-
proaches. Our goal must is now the world’s biggest seas. The world has already gen six years ago. It has invested in solar, wind and
be a transformation.” greenhouse gas polluter, warmed nearly 1 degree hydro power and promised to cut carbon emissions
China and India say they accounting for 28 percent Celsius since the beginning per unit of economic output by 65 percent. Xi also
want the agreement to of the world’s current emis- of the industrial age.q has pledged $3.1 billion to help developing countries
combat climate change. But the Chinese president
stressed Monday that the eventual climate deal must
include aid for poor countries and respect differenc-
es between developing and established nations. He
said the deal should accommodate national interests.
“Addressing climate change should not deny the le-
gitimate needs of developing countries to reduce
poverty and improve living standards,” he said.
MODI’S “BALANCE”
With at least 300 million people lacking access to elec-
tricity, India faces a particular challenge in restraining
future greenhouse gas emissions as its economy grows
and brings prosperity to those millions. It has promised
to reduce its emissions intensity by 33 percent to 35
percent by 2030 from 2005 levels. Emissions would con-
tinue to grow under the plan, as its economy grows.
But the increase relative to economic output would
be lower than otherwise. Modi called Obama his
friend and pledged to work shoulder-to-shoulder with
the U.S. on new technology initiatives. But he’s also
sounding a not-our-fault message.q