New Delhi to Milan
The Ninth Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), also known as COP-9, is being held in Milan, Italy. The previous conference, COP-8, took place in New Delhi from October 23 to November 1, 2002. Can the lessons from New Delhi be applied to Milan?
Since the signing of the Kyoto Protocol until the New Delhi conference, the US discourse on climate negotiations had remained the same: developing countries must also commit to reduce or limit greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in order for international action on climate change to be effective. The US administration's arguments against Kyoto are well known, and include unfairness, inefficiency and harm to the US economy. The unfairness stems, in the US administration's view, from the fact that 80 per cent of the world's population is exempt from compliance with the Kyoto Protocol. Inefficiency comes from the fact that large developing counties are not required to reduce or limit their GHG emissions (China and India are often given as examples). As perceived by the US, any global reduction achieved by developed countries alone would probably be offset by the increased emissions from developing countries as their economies grow. Harm to the US economy would come in part from more expensive energy, but largely from unfair competition from energy intensive industries located in developing countries not bound by the Kyoto Protocol.
However, in COP-8, there was a "surprise', as the US tested a new approach toward the role of developing countries in international climate action. This new approach was best expressed by Harlan L Watson, the head of the US delegation in New Delhi: