Abbott en Harper zetten zich af tegen klimaatvoorstellen Obama

De mobilisering van tegenkrachten is begonnen.

President Obama wenst het international klimaatbeleid weer te reanimeren en dit weer een prominente plaats te geven op de agenda van de komende G20. De Australische PM Abbott en zijn Canadese ambtgenoot Harper hebben de handen ineen geslagen om dat te voorkomen.

Onder de titel, 'Tony Abbott to 'Forge Alliance' to Counter Obama's Efforts to Push Climate Change on Top', schreef Reissa Su:

Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott is seeking an alliance among "like-minded" nations to thwart efforts to introduce carbon pricing and American President Barack Obama's move to push climate change through global forums like G20.

Abbott, who is visiting Canada for talks with the country's prime minister and his close friend Stephen Harper, said efforts are underway to form a new "center-right" alliance under the leadership of Canada, UK, Australia, India and New Zealand.

According to reports, the five Commonwealth nations have "center-right" leaning governments but the closeness between Harper and Abbott is being regarded as the most significant alliance. The combination will attempt to move the pace of climate change action via policies like emissions trading or carbon tax.

Reports said the alliance is a "calculated attempt" to push back on what both Mr Abbott and Mr Harper sees as a "left-liberal agenda" to raise taxes and "unwise" plans to address the issue of global warming.

But Abbott said in a media conference that he thought climate change is a significant problem. But it's not the "only problem" the world faces. He said the problem remains significant and countries should act based on what they think is best to reduce carbon emissions.

The prime minister said he was "encouraged" that Obama is looking at what he regards as a direct action measure to curb emissions and found it similar to what he proposes in Australia.

He said policies to address climate change should not hurt the economy. Harper agreed with the statement and said they want to deal with climate change "in a way that enhances our ability to create jobs and growth."

Both leaders may not yield to pressure from the U.S. should Mr Obama revive the issue of climate change ahead of the annual climate summit. ...

Lees verder hier.

Het is een merkwaardig krantenbericht met nogal tegenstrijdige en dubbelzinnige uitspraken van Abbott. Hoe kan Abbott bijvoorbeeld het Amerikaanse klimaatbeleid bemoedigend vinden? Het is 'all pain and no gain.' Het is slecht voor de economie en werkgelegenheid en het klimaateffect is niet meetbaar. Het lijkt erop of Abbott toch niet kon nalaten even lippendienst te bewijzen aan de opwarmingsmantra. Maar de de algemene teneur van het initiatief lijkt mij per saldo toch positief. Ik verwacht dat het van andere belangrijke deelnemers aan de top, zoals China en Japan, steun zal krijgen.

Lees ook Hajo Smit hier.

Voor mijn eerdere DDS–bijdragen zie hier.