We need a plan for reducing carbon emissions that actually works.

I know it isn’t even summer yet, but December can’t come soon enough as far as I’m concerned. That’s when the next UN Climate Change Conference 2009 will be held in Copenhagen. This will be the first of these conferences since the arrival of President Obama on the scene. I don’t think it is controversial to say that he’s shown a greater willingness than his predecessor to have the US join an international effort to combat global warming emissions.
 
I, for one, am eager to see what will result, given the general opinion among scientists and other observers that the Kyoto Protocol has been less effective than originally hoped (some say it has been a complete failure).

I think progress could hinge on an issue I’ve been writing about in this platform for a while: who’s responsible for what emissions.

I found this nugget fascinating: While the UK is generally seen to be in compliance with its Kyoto targets, the carbon dioxide emissions caused by the country’s consumption actually increased by 18% between 1992 and 2004, according to a Stockholm Environment Institute study for the British government.

So it seems that the UK has met its goals in part by shipping its manufacturing overseas. Hopefully, this time around we can create a plan that keeps the US and the rest of the world from doing the same thing again.