global warming Essays (580 words) - Climate Change Policy

Global warming has become perhaps the most complicated issue facing world leaders. On the one hand, warnings from the scientific community are becoming louder, as an increasing body of science points to rising dangers from the ongoing buildup of human-related greenhouse gases ? produced mainly by the burning of fossil fuels and forests. On the other, the technological, economic and political issues that have to be resolved before a concerted worldwide effort to reduce emissions can begin have gotten no simpler, particularly in the face of a global economic slowdown. Global talks on climate change opened in Canc?n, Mexico in late 2010 with the toughest issues unresolved, and the conference produced modest agreements. But while the measures adopted in Canc?n under the auspices of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change are likely to have scant near-term impact on the warming of the planet, the international process for dealing with the issue got a significant vote of confidence. The next round of talks will take place in December 2011 in Durban, South Africa. The Canc?n agreement fell well short of the broad changes scientists say are needed to avoid dangerous climate change in coming decades. But it laid the groundwork for stronger measures in the future, if nations are able to overcome the emotional arguments that have crippled climate change negotiations in recent years. The package, known as the Canc?n Agreements, gave the more than 190 countries participating in the conference until December 2011 to decide whether to extend the frayed Kyoto Protocol, the 1997 agreement that requires most wealthy nations to trim their emissions while providing assistance to developing countries to pursue a cleaner energy future. At the heart of the international debate is a momentous tussle between rich and poor countries over who steps up first and who pays most for changed energy menus. In the United States, in January 2011, the Environmental Protection Agency began imposing regulations related to greenhouse gas emissions. The immediate effect on utilities, refiners and major manufacturers was minor, with the new rules applying only to those planning to build large new facilities or make major modifications to existing plants. Over the next decade, however, the agency plans to regulate virtually all sources of greenhouse gases, imposing efficiency and emissions requirements on nearly every industry and every region. Barack Obama vowed as a candidate that he would put the United States on a path to addressing climate change by reducing emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gas pollutants. He offered Congress wide latitude to pass climate change legislation, but held in reserve the threat of E.P.A. regulation if it failed to act. The deeply polarized Senate?s refusal to enact climate change legislation essentially called his bluff. But working through the E.P.A. has led to a clash between the administration and Republicans that carries substantial risks for both sides. The administration had to retreat somewhat from its efforts to curtail greenhouse gases. In September 2011, Mr. Obama rejected a proposed rule from the E.P.A. that would have significantly reduced ozone pollution, saying that it would impose too severe a burden on industry and local governments at a time of economic distress. And Republicans in Congress who move too aggressively in their attempts to handcuff the E.P.A. could provoke a popular outcry that they are endangering public health in the service of their well-heeled patrons in industry.