Climate now a U.S. priority

Tuesday, March 3, 2009 | 2:10 a.m.

Hopes that a more effective global treaty on climate change can be negotiated have grown now that President Barack Obama has committed the United States to a seat at the table.

Entering his presidency’s second month, Obama has so far been keeping his campaign promises. One of those promises was to lead the world in forging an updated agreement on reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

This complex task falls largely to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who on Jan. 26 said, “All nations bear responsibility (for climate change) and all nations must work together to find solutions. America will take the lead ...”

On that day she introduced Todd Stern as the State Department’s special envoy to the world on climate change. He represented the White House at the 1997 negotiations in Kyoto, Japan, that led to the first international climate-change agreement.

Stern has since said the United States will involve itself “in a robust way” in international climate negotiations leading up to a Kyoto-style meeting in Copenhagen in December.

Although then-Vice President Al Gore signed the accord that came out of the Kyoto negotiations, the Senate resolved not to ratify it. Even as climate change became a much bigger issue, the Bush administration never tried to change the Senate’s position. The stated concern was that developing nations, particularly China and India, remained free to emit at will, giving them a competitive advantage.

The Kyoto treaty took effect in 2005, but has not been viewed as very effective without our participation.

Nevertheless, it has proven that nations are willing to meet and reach agreement on climate change, which a majority of the world’s scientists believe is being accelerated at an abnormal pace by man-made carbon emissions.

Obama’s embrace of a climate-change treaty has set off “a flurry of diplomacy around the globe,” The New York Times reported Sunday.

Although negotiations will be complex and challenging, with the worldwide recession adding to the difficulty, the Obama administration is right take the lead in negotiating a treaty that will produce better results. With the rate climate change is accelerating, time and international cooperation are of the essence.