Article published in the daily newspaper Eesti Päevaleht on December 8, 2007. To see the original article, click here.

Bali Roadmap: Progress through a Global Effort

Stanley Davis Phillips

Starting December 3, the United States will join the other 191 Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) – including Estonia -- in Bali, Indonesia, for an important meeting that will be a key step for the global community in addressing the serious global challenge of climate change. At this two-week conference, the United States will work productively and constructively with other nations to help develop a “Bali Roadmap” that will chart the way for agreement on a new global climate change framework by 2009.

We seek a Bali Roadmap that will advance negotiations under the UNFCCC and develop a post-2012 framework that effectively addresses climate change and strengthens our energy security.

The United States believes that a post-2012 framework for climate change must be environmentally effective and economically sustainable. Emissions are global and the solution, to be effective, will need to be global. An approach in which only some are acting is not environmentally effective. Moreover, a future framework must be flexible and accommodate a diverse range of national circumstances, as well as broad social and economic goals.

The United States is working at home and abroad on a range of initiatives to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, improve energy security and cut harmful air pollution. We have a diverse portfolio of domestic policy measures including dozens of mandatory, incentive-based, market-based, and voluntary programs to reduce our domestic emissions. We have also devoted $37 billion to help develop and deploy innovative technologies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions while allowing for economic growth.

We know this can be done. From 2000-2005, the population of the United States grew by 5 percent (14 million people) and GDP grew by 12 percent (about $1.2 trillion) while our greenhouse gas emissions increased by only 1.6 percent. From 2005-2006, our economy grew 2.9 percent, but our greenhouse gas emissions actually decreased 1.5 percent.

Internationally, U.S. climate change policies are part of a broader, sustainable development agenda. We have initiated or participate in many international partnerships—for example, the Asia-Pacific Partnership on Clean Development and Climate and the Methane to Markets Partnership—that address climate change in ways that promote economic growth and help nations deliver greater prosperity for their people. Building on these successes, the United States convened 17 of the world's major economies—representing some 80 percent of the world's economy, energy use, and greenhouse gas emissions—and the United Nations for an inaugural Major Economies Meeting on Energy Security and Climate Change in September 2007. By working together constructively, the United States believes the Major Economies process can contribute to and help advance discussions under the UNFCCC.

At the conference in Bali, we will listen carefully to the ideas of others and share our own efforts and commitment to reach consensus on a “Bali Roadmap” that will guide the international community forward over the coming two years.