US Sabotaging a Bali Deal Even Though China is Playing Ball

The jig is up: The US -- not China -- is doing everything possible to spoil a successful Bali mandate.

That's the latest from the National Environmental Trust out of Bali. Philip Clapp, deputy managing director, said during a press conference earlier today that, for the first time, developing nations -- especially China -- are putting proposals on the table that would reduce their CO2 emissions growth, while the US is busy obstructing their progress.

The constructive participation of the developing countries is a watershed event. And they're growing despondent with the US as a result. According to Clapp, "I have never seen some of the ministers of the developing countries so angry."

That's because they're doing precisely what the US and the EU have demanded for years. They have stepped up with their own emissions reduction plans. And it's not just China. The rainforest nations -- Brazil, Costa Rica, Papa New Guinea, among others -- have also proposed ways to cut down on emissions and be part of an international cap-and-trade scheme.

And the US remains pointedly opposed to any and all of these suggestions.

• No to the participation of the rainforest nations in the carbon market.
• No to China's suggestions on technology transfer.
• No to even an evaluation and measurement of what's worked to cut emissions via technology transfer.
• And no to any kind of funding mechanism to help poor countries that have been most ravaged by climate-related disasters.
• And the strongest no is to the three-page draft document that was intended to guide negotiations. The document lays out a principle -- not even a legally binding target -- that in the short-term, developing nations must reduce carbon emissions by 25 to 40 percent below their 1990 levels by 2020. Due to US insistence -- and that of its supporters, namely Canada -- the range will likely be dropped.

So at this point, conversations in a slew of areas are completely deadlocked, all thanks to you know who. As Clapp explained, everyone expected rough spots, but not of this magnitude.

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