Posted by
AJH on Wednesday, March 11, 2009 2:10:31 AM
The head of the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), Rajendra Pachauri, “conceded that Barack Obama will face a 'revolution' if he commits the US to the deep carbon cuts that scientists and campaigners say are needed.”
In an interview with the Guardian of the UK, Pachauri said domestic politics made it impossible for the U.S. president to announce ambitious short-term climate targets similar to Europe, and questioned any new agreement similar to the Kyoto Protocol without such a pledge from the United States.
In Copenhagen, Pachauri said: “He [Obama] is not going to say by 2020 I'm going to reduce emissions by 30%. He'll have a revolution on his hands. He has to do it step by step.”
Todd Stern, the White House chief climate negotiator, said last week that it was impossible for the U.S. to aim for 25-40% cuts by 2020.
Pachauri said the U.S. needed to do more in the short term. But he questioned whether there would be sufficient domestic movement for the US to agree stricter targets in December. He said it was “hard to say” if a new deal would be meaningful without such a step.
AJH