U.S. and the “Green New Deal”

The seed for "a green new deal" to succeed the Kyoto Protocol in 2013 was sown in the recent United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) meeting in Poznan, Poland in December 2008. The Fourteenth Conference of Parties (COP) aimed for all participating nations to enter into full negotiating mode to prepare for their next meeting in Copenhagen. Meanwhile, the United States resumed its leadership in the global climate change front, when President Obama highlighted the environment and sustainable energy among his top priorities.

Although Obama links U.S. dependence on foreign non-renewable energy to the economy and international security issues, climate change’s international nature requires collective planning and development. There is a strong push for emission reduction in developing nations like China and India, yet no financial support has been offered to these nation-states with limited funding for reducing their carbon footprints. The EU has already drafted a post-Kyoto proposal that endorses increasing global investment in reducing global emissions to 175 billion euro by 2020, including in the forestry sector. More than half of this amount will be invested in developing countries to help them address climate change, and establish emission reduction strategies.

In an article, Special Envoy for Climate Change Todd Stern and Brookings Institution Managing Director William Antholis urge the U.S. President to pursue layered diplomacy: forming a global coalition of eight core countries that includes advanced developing countries, developing bilateral engagement with China in environmental technology, and encouraging greater participation at the global level.

The progressive changes being enforced by the new administration in the domestic front is commendable, with a goal to reduce emissions to at least 80% by 2050, through cap-and-trade programs. In making a “Green New Deal,” the role of the U.S. should expand to encourage participation of all nations in fighting global warming.