The New Nation - Internet Edition

US President Barack Obama was reported yesterday asking the European Union to double efforts with a view to reaching an agreement on climate change in Copenhagen next month to save mankind from catastrophic consequences. Obama has marked a shift in the US policy on climate change after a decade of inaction under former president Gearge W Bush. In fact, people from all corners of the globe, especially from the poor low-lying countries like Bangladesh, want the US to give leadership to put a brake on global warming caused by emission of greenhouse gases (GHG). Poor countries contribute little to global warming but have been its worst sufferers.

Available information suggest that the new US administration has made a lot of progress on this front but has not yet succeeded to tell in concrete terms if they would be taking time-bound targets for GHG emission reduction. US officials say that it is a hot political issue in their country which respects market forces to decide things. They say businesses have started discussing the issue and a bill has passed from the House of Representatives to the Senate, while the administration has been heavily committing to develop renewable sources of energy and reduce dependence on fossil fuels that emit most of the GHGs.

The world opinion however, is now much ahead of the US. Almost all countries want a new agreement with set targets to bring GHG emissions below 1990 levels by the year 2020. The European Union, Japan, Australia have set their GHG emission reduction targets by 20 per cent to as high as 30 per cent, and are ready to commit funds to support developing countries to take up adaptation and mitigation measures. Developed countries want Dhaka to be loud on the issue.