10.7.2008 9:16 AM

U.N. Climate Treaty Imperiled by Financial Crisis

Head of Treaty Process Sees Danger in Credit Crunch

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Photo: NASA

By Dan Shapley

The head of the United Nations' effort to create a new global treaty to tackle global warming had some disheartening words yesterday in an interview with Reuters.

The financial crisis, spreading from the United States through Europe and Asia, could take the steam out of a process that is already as complicated as it is controversial. Essentially: If rich nations spend their money buying up bad mortgages, they won't have money to put toward climate change regimes.

He even suggested that the 2009 deadline might pass without an agreement in Copenhagen. The new treaty has been years in the making.

But Yvo de Boer said it's critical that governments maintain focus on the treaty, and enact an agreement that limits emissions significantly. Carbon pollution must be reduced by 50% worldwide by 2050 — which would mean about an 80% reduction in the United States, according to the U.N., by 2050. Recent data suggests, however, that emissions are rising more steeply than anticipated, indicating that steeper cuts may in fact be needed to stave off the worst consequences of climate change.

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