U.S. loses leverage in climate talks

Tuesday, 30 November 2010, 18:57 IST   |    1 Comments
Printer Print Email Email
Washington: A year after President Barack Obama worked personally to salvage the Copenhagen climate summit, a political shift leaves the U.S. with far less leverage while China moves ahead. U.S. negotiators in the UN-led talks in Cancun, Mexico, face the tough task of persuading China and other emerging economies to agree to a binding treaty without offering any concessions that could face a backlash in Washington. Obama's Democratic Party suffered a stinging election defeat on November 2 to the Republican Party, which has vowed to oppose a nationwide plan to restrict carbon emissions blamed for global warming. "The U.S. has the leverage of any major country but its ability to promise much more is rather limited by the domestic situation," said Alden Meyer, Director of Strategy and Policy at the Union of Concerned Scientists.
Source: PTI
siliconindia