Obama pledges to “rally the world” – Canada goes “defeatist”

Obama and President Hu Jintao emerged from their discussions and raised hopes for the UN Climate summit in Copenhagen on Tuesday. Obama declared that China and the U.S. “agreed to work toward a successful outcome in Copenhagen.” Now that might be the usual political smoke but he went on to say their goal:

“…is not a partial accord or a political declaration, but rather an accord that covers all of the issues in the negotiations, and one that has immediate operational effect. This kind of comprehensive agreement would be an important step forward in the effort to rally the world around a solution to our climate challenge”.

And that is a significant departure from the reports from APEC on the weekend lowering expectations. Then the two leaders went on to outline a series of joint action plans including on electric vehicles, renewable energy, energy efficiency and other topics. And — tantalizingly — they pledged they “would take significant mitigation actions and stand behind these commitments.” Here’s the link to the full text of the official US-China joint statement.

The editors at Scientific American are wondering if the accord isn’t More important than Copenhagen? considering the two countries account for 40% of the world’s global warming pollution. Analysts for the Center for American Progress have an upbeat take on the “positive, cooperative and comprehensive plan” at Climate Progress.

No matter how groundbreaking the US-China visit was or wasn’t, all these “rally the world” efforts are in marked contrast to Canada’s position which the Globe nailed as “defeatism” in yesterday’s editorial ["No need for defeatism"].

Environment Minister Jim Prentice finally acknowledged the obvious — that despite the government’s promises earlier this fall, Canada would not introduce regulations to reduce global warming pollution before Copenhagen. We’ll wait on the international process, wait on the American Congress, and even then it’ll take a while longer:

“Once the international framework is in place, we have a certain amount of work to do in terms of the continental approach to this, and any domestic policies within Canada would have to fall under the international framework and be consistent with our continental approach,” Prentice tells Mike De Souza at Canwest.

Bottom line: Canadian laws are “years away”

It seems to me that the key Canadian themes are “defeatism,” “not even trying,” and “paralysis.”

And I think it’s important that we expose that Canada is not working with the Americans on global warming and clean energy. We are way behind in terms of the leadership capital Obama is spending, the financial capital the administration is pouring into clean energy and clean tech, the intellectual capital appointed to important positions, the regulations already passed for efficiency and vehicles — the list goes on.

Why is the Canadian government plagued by defeatism on global warming without first having made an honest effort? It’s as if successive federal governments have been too paralyzed by the scale of the clean energy transition to even try.

Let’s all admit that rebuilding our economy with efficiency and clean energy is a big project. It will take a grand effort at home and difficult negotiations abroad. On some issues, we are tied to the U.S.. But Canada’s problem right now is not that the problem is big, it’s that that we’re not even trying.

We’re doing a “go-go-stop” game with clean energy when the federal government doesn’t refund incentives. We scare away investment and entrepreneurs when we talk about “taking a breather” on our clean technology program or we build a crazy quilt of provincial programs without a federal plan to reduce global warming pollution.

There are so many simple, profitable things we could be doing.

Let’s build windfarms and new clean energy on a grand scale to get off fossil fuels. Let’s drive forward a national energy efficiency strategy with the provinces to reduce energy consumption. Let’s get electric cars on the road and support transit for cities. Let’s launch an army or workers to retrofit the country’s buildings.

When we do that, we create momentum. We will invigorate our economy and create a new generation of jobs. And we will be able to engage constructively abroad when we’re making an honest effort at home.

There is no need for defeatism. Nor for paralysis. Before politicians get away with copping those attitudes, they at least have to have been trying.

Lots worth reading:

Canwest: Obama’s China trip could pay off in Copenhagen

Scientific American: More important than Copenhagen? US-China deal on energy and climate

Washington Post: US, China may come to talks with emission-reduction goals

AP: Obama: Rally the world for climate deal next month

COP15: CO2 heavyweights China and US want a “comprehensive agreement”

Globe: Ottawa holds back climate rules pending global deal

CBC: Climate Change Law “years away”: Prentice

Climate Progress: U.S. and China announce