At the opening ceremony of the 29th session of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), and its 20th anniversary in Geneva, Switzerland, the head of the U.N. made it known that he believed the next American president must show greater leadership than previous administrations in fighting climate change.

From our perspective, that shouldn’t be too hard; all he’ll have to do is personally change a fluorescent light bulb in the Oval Office and he’ll be doing better than Bush.

“All the countries in the international community are looking for more and greater leadership from the United States,” said U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. And though Ban praised U.S. President George W. Bush for the role that he has played, calling it an “important role” in discussing how countries can minimize their greenhouse gas emissions, he was not altogether pleased.

Ban said that the United States has not done enough to turn talk in to action, especially considering its position as one of the planets greatest producers of greenhouse gasses. “I sincerely hope the next US administration will demonstrate a greater leadership role,” Mr Ban said on the sidelines of the 20th anniversary ceremony.

“Climate change is no longer just a phenomenon,” Ban said. “It has developed into a full-scale crisis which threatens broad areas of human endeavour, such as the race to reach and maintain the (UN’s) Millennium Development Goals.”

“I think that, whoever may be elected as the president of the United States may be in a better position to lead this process,” Ban added.

Photo Credit UN Photo/Mark Garten

US More Concerned about Local than Global