Nairobi Meeting a Dud?

In early November 2006, the world’s leaders came together in Nairobi, Kenya for the second Conference of the Parties serving as the Meeting of Parties to the Kyoto Protocol (COP/MOP 2) and the twelfth Conference of the Parties (COP 12) to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). There has been much anticipation that this meeting may accelerate the process towards developing a more robust post-2012 Kyoto Protocol climate change regime. Delegates also anticipate a change in U.S. climate change policy following the 2006 midterm elections during which the Democratic Party retook control of both the House and Senate. Unfortunately, it is not likely that either event will really bring the types of aggressive policy changes needed to stabilize greenhouse gasses.

The Nairobi agenda is largely dominated by ‘housekeeping issues’ such as improving implementation of existing programs such as the Clean Development Mechanism and Joint Implementation. Also, the whole policymaking process is paralyzed by an inability of the scientific community, namely the International Panel on Climate Change, to provide timely information about the current state of climate change research. The last time they issued a consensus report was in 2001. We need that information now in order to mobilize support for real change.

Second, if you are hoping that the Democrats will magically fix U.S. climate change policy when they come to power in January, think again. President Bill Clinton was in power for 8 years but the U.S. made little progress in developing a comprehensive climate change strategy. In fact, the U.S. delegation did whatever could to water down U.S. obligations under the Kyoto Protocol. The new Democratic leadership has proposed a series of high priority initiatives that it plans to tackle in January. Climate change policy was way down the list.