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Without the cooperation of China, climate talks in Bali this week won't do much good--and may even harm the fight against global warming.
This week in Bali the curtain rises on another round of United Nations talks to slow global warming. The effort, though noble, is largely irrelevant to the urgent task of cutting greenhouse-gas emissions. The countries that care the most about successful U.N. talks are a small and shrinking part of the problem. Those that matter most—notably China, which in 2007 became the world's largest emitter of warming gases—have exempted themselves from any regulation of their effluent. The Bali agenda offers no route around this impasse and will probably make it harder to solve in the future.
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The gorilla in room at all climate talks is China's staggering growth powered by a seemingly unsatiable appetite for energy from coal, a big source of carbon. Fearful that taming coal could hiccup the country's economic growth, China has steadfastly refused to curtail its emissions.
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Until the Chinese realize their own interest in real efforts to control emissions rather than shell games, global-warming talks won't make much progress. Perhaps this is the signal that China is unequivocally a world power. Without its consent, the world can't deal with one of its pressing problems.
Victor is professor of law at Stanford University's Program on Energy & Sustainable Development and adjunct senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations.
Author
- David Victor
- Stanford Law School
- David.Victor@stanford.edu
- 650 724.1712