Imperfect deal is better than nothing, says Obama

Copenhagen, Dec. 18: The US President, Mr Barack Obama, on Friday told the world to stop bickering and embrace even an imperfect new climate deal, or risk a disastrous split that would let global warming advance unchallenged.

“I have to be honest, as the world watches us today, I think ability to take collective action is in doubt right now and it hangs in the balance,” Mr Obama told leaders in the cliffhanger final hours of the UN climate conference.

“At this point the question is whether we will move forward together or split apart, whether we prefer posturing to action,” he said.

Mr Obama is wagering personal political prestige in the drive to agree to a new pact on curbing carbon emissions — but also tried to shore up his domestic flank, amid rising scepticism about a new climate bill back in the US.

He declined to offer new sweeteners to get a deal, rebuked China’s reluctance to allow outside scrutiny of action on greenhouse gas emissions and warned developing states they could forget aid that had no strings attached.

“I am sure that many consider this an imperfect framework... no country will get everything that it wants. We are prepared to get this done today, but there has to be movement on all sides,” Mr Obama said in a speech greeted only by lukewarm applause from delegates.

Immediate reaction from those who hoped Mr Obama would offer new momentum

for the knife-edge effort to agree to a new climate deal by Friday was underwhelming. “Obama has said nothing to save the Copenhagen conference from failure,” said Mr Raman Mehta, ActionAid’s climate change expert in Asia.

One of the key sticking points of the quest for a new climate change action plan is a dispute between the US and China on the US demand for outside scrutiny of action by developing states on climate change pledges. “Without such accountability, any agreement would be empty words on a page,” he said. —