With contributions from Fabrizio D’Adda, Kevin Baumert, Corrado Clini, Chandrashekhar Dasgupta, Michael Grubb, Benito Müller, Friedemann Müller,
A transatlantic policy divide has occurred during the last one and a half decades since the Berlin wall came down, the Cold War ended, and there was hope for the pay-off of what was has been called a peace dividend. This hope included widespread optimism that the global society would now be able to focus on new, pressing, non-security challenges which were increasingly global and badly needed worldwide solutions. Seen from today, this hope has not been satisfied. The topic of my presentation here today is “global governance and transatlantic relations in the issue area of climate change”. It is divided in four major blocks: First I will talk about what makes climate change a global governance issue and an issue with great importance for the transatlantic relationship. Then I will briefly explore on where the Atlantic partners lost their joint path and around what the transatlantic differences in the field of climate policy revolve. Thirdly, I will come up with a few theses about why that might have happened, i.e. why the US and
Immer mehr erscheint es als geradezu wider die menschliche Natur, sich dem Charme und der Überzeugungskraft des Barack Obama entziehen zu können. Genau zwei Wochen war es her, dass der Kandidat um die demokratische Präsidentschaftskandidatur schwere politische Niederlagen hatte einstecken müssen, als er die Vorwahlen in Ohio, Rhode Island und Texas gegen Hillary Clinton verlor. Seiner Konkurrentin hatte dies zur politischen Wiederauferstehung verholfen. Dann folgte die schlechte Presse über die nach Ansicht vieler Amerikaner provokanten Bemerkungen des Predigers und engen Vertrauten Obamas, Jeremiah Wright Jr. Doch Obama schafft es selbst über derart ernste Rückschläge mit einer bemerkenswerten Kombination aus Zielstrebigkeit im Handeln und Leichtigkeit in der Darbietung hinwegzukommen. Mit seiner Rede zur Rassenproblematik am 18. März nahm der Senator aus Illinois das Heft wieder selbst in die Hand. DW WORLD
A derogative remark cost her the job: Briefly after Samantha Power – in an explicitly off-the-record comment – had called Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton “a monster”, she had to resign as Senator Barack Obama’s senior foreign policy advisor, a position she had held since his early days in the U.S. Senate. Ms. Power’s quick assertion that she was frequently on record praising Mrs. Clinton’s leadership, intellect, even her humor and warmth, could save her just as little as the backing of party VIPs like former National Security Adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski who held that “an expression of regret for using an inappropriate description (…) should have sufficed”. Ms. Power’s comment was seen as potentially too harmful to Mr. Obama’s self-induced clean campaign to keep her in place. DW WORLD
The picture drawn by the media of the main protagonists at the UN conference on climate change in Bali was reminiscent of Sergio Leone’s famous spaghetti western. In one corner of the stand-off, a tenacious and uppity Europe, convinced that she will succeed. Then there was America, with her presumptuous plan to either get her own say or obstruct everyone else’s. And finally, China. Recently declared the world’s number one greenhouse gas emitter, she insisted on her right to pollute even more in the future. It was a boring picture, one we have seen all too often in the past. Until the very last day, the Bali summit was only the newest episode in a showdown habitually played out at yearly climate conferences: The European Union tries to provide leadership but cannot do it on its own, while the United States and China remain stuck in their regular gridlock ritual, both unwilling to take responsibility for their share of the problem. This year’s climate conference, however, took a dramatic turn: the script was changed so that, at least this season, the perennial tragedy ended on a positive note. FACET Commentary No. 6
On December 3, 2007, AICGS was pleased to host AICGS Senior Fellow Alexander Ochs for a lecture titled “The Third Industrial Revolution: Energy Security, Transatlantic Relations, and the Economic Case for Climate Policy.” This lecture was made possible by the generous support of the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD).
Mr. Ochs began his presentation with an overview of American and European climate policy, including the differing international, national, and sub-national approaches taken by the U.S. and the EU; the difficulties facing the Kyoto Protocol (namely the gridlock between the U.S. and major developing countries); and the main sticking points of transatlantic disunity (including disagreements over the necessity of binding emissions reduction targets and time frames, mechanisms for their implementation, and the inclusiveness of the international regime). He then offered his perspective on the next crucial steps for successfully implementing effective international climate policy. These included the importance of U.S. domestic legislation, the design of a sustainable post-Kyoto framework, a leadership role for the U.S., and the EU’s willingness to continue leadership both at home and in the international sphere.
The challenges of climate change and energy security, Mr. Ochs argued, are intrinsically tied to each other. The climate problem cannot be solved without reforming the energy sector and, likewise, energy security is not possible or affordable with our current energy mismanagement. Thus, we are faced with an ecological problem (increased global temperatures lead to more frequent and intense weather extremes, sea-level rise, and risks to plant, animal and human life); a political problem (overcoming the horizontal and vertical complexities of the world’s “most global” problem); an ethical problem (the poor countries are the most adversely impacted but the rich countries are most responsible for the problem); and an economic-technological challenge (reforming an economy that has been thriving based on fossil fuels for most of the last one and a half centuries since the second industrial revolution).
[Please find a full summary here and the presentation slides here]
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