Briefing by Teleconference with Chairman of the White House Council on Environmental Quality Jim Connaughton
WASHINGTON--(Business Wire)--
6:03 P.M. EDT
MR. CONNAUGHTON: Hello, this is Jim Connaughton, Chairman of the
White House Council on Environmental Quality. And I just want to give
you an update, after two intensive and constructive days of
discussions among leaders' reps to the 16 major economies.
Just to refresh you all, this is the fourth meeting of leaders'
representatives. These are people like me who directly report to their
Presidents or Prime Ministers. And our goal is to pull together the
agenda for a meeting of the leaders of the world's major economies on
-- to discuss energy security and climate change. That leaders meeting
will take place in conjunction with the G8 in Toyako, Japan. And the
meeting will immediately follow the G8 meeting.
This will be the first time the leaders have come together in that
number and in that configuration, to have a candid exchange about some
of the most difficult issues related to advancing the agenda on
climate change.
Our mission was, over the last four meetings, was first to begin
to flesh out some of the more challenging areas that required
high-level leadership, build confidence in support of the U.N.
negotiations that are now underway under the Bali Action Plan, and
hopefully to provide some political impetus to reach an agreement on a
new outcome by the end of next year in Copenhagen -- the idea being
that the work we do this year is going to be essential to rapid
progress next year. There's a very aggressive agenda to try to
conclude negotiations on a new agreement and it's going to be quite
complex and require a lot of pressure from the top.
Just to highlight the issues we've been discussing -- we've been
talking about the general direction of the major economies in
providing leadership in addressing greenhouse gas emissions,
consistent with promotion and sustaining economic growth, and poverty
eradication especially in the developing countries.
The interlinked challenges of energy security and food security,
as well as sustainable development have always been at the forefront
of the leaders' thinking. And this discussion has been no less. We've
always worked to be sure that we're taking into account those features
as we discuss the elements of an agreed outcome for next year.
The pieces of the discussion relate to the Bali Action Plan
indication that we are striving to achieve agreement on a long-term
global goal; that would be a shared goal among all countries -- not
just the major economies -- for addressing greenhouse gas emissions.
We also discussed the nature of midterm goals, actions of the parties,
and how those will take shape over time and how they might be
addressed in a new agreed outcome.
We talked about the idea of pursuing a series of early actions
which are focused on things that we can do now together as major
economies without -- before even a new agreement is reached. And these
would be in furtherance of our longstanding commitments under the U.N.
Framework Convention on Climate Change, which the U.S. is a party to,
along with the other major economies.
There was also lengthy discussions on adaptation, which has
emerged as an issue of significant and increasing importance. I just
remind you -- adaptation is how you work toward your economies being
more resilient to the effects of climate change. And this is
especially an area of focus for lesser developed countries who have
lesser capabilities of adapting to climate change.
And we had -- will have an extensive discussion on financing, in
particular with the focus on financing for the lower costs and broader
dissemination of advanced technologies; long discussion on
technologies and all the aspects of their development; exchanges among
the parties with respect to shared research efforts; and then all the
various tools by which we can get existing technologies and new
technologies out into the marketplace. And that agenda is now quite
substantial.
And then finally there was the discussion of whether this process
of meetings among major economies is worth continuing, and there
appears to be strong interest in that taking place, which I think is
an indication of the value of the meetings.
For those of you who haven't been out with me before on these --
these meetings are private, high-level, and we really are able to sort
of press on some of the tougher issues that have been eluding the
climate negotiators. So the meetings themselves are valuable as senior
officials take a closer look at the details of the climate negotiating
process to try to see where there are opportunities for moving
forward.
Let's see, what else? So when the leaders meet, they will -- we're
preparing an agenda for them, we're preparing a document for them, and
this work of this meeting puts all that into their hands. So I'll be
returning to talk to President Bush about how our progress has been,
and then the leaders will meet and then make their collective views
known at the time of the major economies meeting.
So that's all my background. Look forward to your questions. Thank
you.
Q I was wondering if you reached a basic agreement on a long-term
reduction goal of 50 percent by 2050. And if you can tell us what the
unresolved sticking points are for the declaration at Toyako.
MR. CONNAUGHTON: The details of our work are actually being
submitted to leaders for their consideration individually. And then
they will come together to discuss those details, and then jointly
communicate on that. So at this time, we -- I'm not in a position to
discuss that, as I need to discuss it with the President first.
Q Thanks for holding the call. I guess a slightly different
phrasing on the question that was just asked, which is, are there any
points of disagreement over a long-term goal at this point? Is there
any reason to think there won't be a common settlement on a long-term
goal? Obviously the President has made this a personal priority by
stating this is going to happen before the end of his administration.
MR. CONNAUGHTON: The long-term goal is a new issue. It was not a
subject of discussions among any of the countries until it was put on
the table by several countries in conjunction with the G8 meetings
last year in Heiligendamm. And then that found its way into the Bali
Action Plan, and it was a pretty big deal for all the countries to
agree that they be considering a global vision that they would share
and they would try to translate that into a specific shared goal.
And so, in that respect, first of all, there's -- I want to be
sure you're clear -- there's no agreement on a long-term goal until
the end of next year when all the parties come together in agreement.
So this is a significant step --
Q Wait, wait, wait -- wait, the President said at the 8-plus-5,
his goal was by the end of this year that those countries would have
agreement on a long-term goal then, and hopefully midterm goals, as
well, separate from the larger treaty process involving all the
world's nations.
MR. CONNAUGHTON: Yes, I was just -- Andy, I was just trying to
clarify that when you said "agreement," I didn't want those who are
not steeped in the details to get the impression that when the leaders
speak in a couple weeks, that that's the end of the discussion.
Actually, it's the beginning of the discussion. It then has to go out
to more than 170 other countries.
So in that respect, we have -- all I can say at this time is that
we have advanced the discussion. This is a -- the long-term goal is a
very complex subject, as you look at the various scenarios for how you
get from here to there. And so we had many, many hours of discussion
around that.
So I can leave it at that. It is receiving very significant
deliberation, and we'll see what the leaders have to say.
Q Thanks -- sort of. (Laughter.)
MR. CONNAUGHTON: Yes. Sorry.
OPERATOR: There are no further questions at this time.
MR. CONNAUGHTON: Okay, I guess if that's the case, thank you,
everybody. I'm sorry I don't have more details yet, but really it's in
the hands of the leaders, so you'll be hearing from them in the very
near future. We'll look forward to talking to you after that occurs.
Thanks. Bye-bye.
END 6:18 P.M. EDT
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