ID :
209650
Tue, 09/27/2011 - 10:03
Auther :
Shortlink :
https://www.oananews.org//node/209650
The shortlink copeid
EU commissioner 'shocked' over US debate on climate change
Berlin, Sept 27, IRNA -- The European Union commissioner for climate action, Connie Hedegaard on Monday voiced 'shock' over the ongoing discussions in the US on climate change.
Talking to the Danish daily Politiken, Hedegaard said, 'I am shocked that the US has a debate that is removed so far from scientific facts.'
Hedegaard was alluding to controversial statements made by a number of Republican presidential candidates that 'denied climate change.'
She added it was unlikely that the next climate conference in Durban, South Africa, would yield a binding agreement on reducing emissions of carbon dioxide, given the US climate change debate.
'We can read the political situation in the US. The fact is, the US will not move before the Durban meeting,' Hedegaard said.
Instead, she urged the 27-member EU and other countries to prepare for unilateral reductions.
Hedegaard said the Durban conference should try to seal 'a plan with deadlines' in a bid 'to reach a binding treaty that includes both the US and China.'
In 2009, Hedegaard - then a Danish cabinet member - chaired part of the UN climate conference in her native Denmark that also failed to secure a binding accord on emissions.
The US is among the world's biggest individual producers of carbon dioxide, which is blamed for global warming./end
Talking to the Danish daily Politiken, Hedegaard said, 'I am shocked that the US has a debate that is removed so far from scientific facts.'
Hedegaard was alluding to controversial statements made by a number of Republican presidential candidates that 'denied climate change.'
She added it was unlikely that the next climate conference in Durban, South Africa, would yield a binding agreement on reducing emissions of carbon dioxide, given the US climate change debate.
'We can read the political situation in the US. The fact is, the US will not move before the Durban meeting,' Hedegaard said.
Instead, she urged the 27-member EU and other countries to prepare for unilateral reductions.
Hedegaard said the Durban conference should try to seal 'a plan with deadlines' in a bid 'to reach a binding treaty that includes both the US and China.'
In 2009, Hedegaard - then a Danish cabinet member - chaired part of the UN climate conference in her native Denmark that also failed to secure a binding accord on emissions.
The US is among the world's biggest individual producers of carbon dioxide, which is blamed for global warming./end
