Stalled traffic in Delhi, India

Stalled traffic in Delhi, India

In an about face the US is reversing its obstructionist stance on climate change progress and trying to single-handedly broker commitments from the major carbon emitting economies.

Just last month the US brokered a milestone, unprecedented carbon reduction commitment with China which even a year ago seemed an impossibility.



The United States and China have unveiled a secretly negotiated deal to reduce their greenhouse gas output, with China agreeing to cap emissions for the first time and the US committing to deep reductions by 2025. The pledges in an agreement struck between President Barack Obama and his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jingping, provide an important boost to international efforts to reach a global deal on reducing emissions beyond 2020 at a United Nations meeting in Paris next year.

And now, Suzanne Goldenberg, is reporting from Lima for the Guardian UK that the US and India are planning to announce an agreement on Indian emissions reduction when President Obama travels to India next month.

America and India will unveil joint efforts to fight climate change when Barack Obama visits New Delhi next month, as the US tries to keep up the momentum of international negotiations. Obama’s visit – on the back of the United Nations talks in Lima – is seen as a key moment to persuade one of the world’s biggest carbon polluters to step up its efforts to fight climate change. After China and the US, India is the world’s third largest producer of the greenhouse gas emissions causing climate change – although it is responsible for only about 6% of such emissions globally.

These rogue commitments by the major economies can only provide a much needed jumpstart to the UN 2015 climate summit in Paris, where hopes are on a global agreement which could finally set us on a path to a safer future.

On climate change, President Obama is acting unilaterally and seems to have freed himself of the need to try to develop consensus within the paralyzed US political system; which after the US midterms promises to be as contentious and polarized as ever.