TN Note: What the UN could not pull off on its own, is being railroaded by Obama himself. That is, to make key parts of any Climate-Change agreement legally binding. The UN had previously declared that it would not be legally binding like a treaty would be.
Parts of a global climate agreement being hammered out in Paris should be legally binding, President Barack Obama said Tuesday. His declaration was both a boost to climate negotiators seeking a tough accord and a challenge to Republican senators, many of whom don’t believe that global warming is real.
Whether or not to make the climate accord legally binding is a major sticking-point at the two-week talks in Paris, which aim to get all countries to agree to cut emissions that scientists say are warming the Earth and increasing extreme weather such as droughts and floods.
Obama has spent months prodding other countries to make ambitious carbon-cutting pledges to the agreement, which would last long beyond the end of his presidency in early 2017.
In Paris, Obama said the specific targets each country is setting to reduce greenhouse gas emissions may not have the force of treaties, but it’s critical that “periodic reviews” of those commitments be legally binding. He’s referring to a mechanism sought by negotiators under which countries would ratchet up their commitments every five years.
“That’s going to be critical in us having high ambitions and holding each other accountable,” he said.
Obama would have little chance of getting the Republican-run Congress to approve a fully binding new climate treaty fighting global warming. So the White House has been searching for a compromise, sparing the need for a new vote.
The White House had already said parts of the deal should be legally binding, but this is the first time Obama has said it himself, and spelled out which ones.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., and other Republican leaders have warned other countries not to trust any deal Obama may strike. Other Republican politicians are working to nullify Obama’s emissions-cutting steps at home.
More than 190 countries are taking part in the Paris talks based on a collective understanding that humans are contributing to global warming and have some role to play in slowing it.
“Parts of a global climate agreement being hammered out in Paris should be legally binding, President Barack Obama said Tuesday.” The only way it will be binding on America and her citizens is it MUST be “in Pursuance thereof” the US Constitution. If it is not and Obama, or any other who serves within our governmetnal apparatus, chooses to try and give authority over the USA to a foreign agency, foreign entity, foreign person, etc if IS Treason. Any foreign or domestic assigned force that tries to enforce this treasonous act will make themselves – if domestic – Traitors and… Read more »
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“Parts of a global climate agreement being hammered out in Paris should be legally binding, President Barack Obama said Tuesday.” The only way it will be binding on America and her citizens is it MUST be “in Pursuance thereof” the US Constitution. If it is not and Obama, or any other who serves within our governmetnal apparatus, chooses to try and give authority over the USA to a foreign agency, foreign entity, foreign person, etc if IS Treason. Any foreign or domestic assigned force that tries to enforce this treasonous act will make themselves – if domestic – Traitors and… Read more »