Tuesday, June 30, 2009

China and India on Global Warming Economics and Negotiations

Remember these are two of the oldest civilizations on earth. They are pretty good negotiators.*
From Earth Times:

India vows cooperation on climate change but not at economic cost

India is prepared to cooperate on curbing global warming - but not at the expense of its own economic development, Indian Foreign Minister Somanahalli Mallaiah Krishna warned Monday. His comments came at a bilateral meeting with EU foreign ministers in Prague. "India is a developing country," he said, speaking after talks with EU diplomats.

"We have challenges and we will have to concentrate on development. And development takes precedence over everything else."He said that India "will continue to cooperate with the rest of the world" on climate change but must stick to its priority to improve the lives of its citizens. India has so far rejected calls for making a binding pledge on cutting emissions of greenhouse gases that are blamed for man-made temperature changes....MORE
From Peoples Daily:

China unhappy with US climate bill
The United States set the bar too low and offered the world a poor example when it passed its climate change bill on Friday, according to a senior Chinese climate change official.

Li Gao, a division director with the Climate Change Department of the National Development and Reform Commission, said the US did not live up to international expectations when it approved the document.

Li said the bill's mid-term carbon emission target would probably be seized upon as the new standard by developed countries in the battle against global warming....

...Li said he was also concerned about a clause in ACESA that calls for tariffs after 2020 on imports from countries without systems for pricing or limiting carbon dioxide emissions. He said mixing up climate change and trade will only "make the issue more complex" and "damage international cooperative efforts to combat global warming"....
From our July 2007 post "EU Emission Caps, Kyoto and Three Ancient Civilizations":

...There is no perfect answer but Kyoto wasn't even close.

The Europeans thought they were gaming the "Cap" by backdating the start date.
The Americans thought they were gaming the treaty by insisting on "Trade".

The Indians and Chinese said "Sure, send us the money".

The Westerners thought they would out-negotiate people who've been negotiating for 5000 years.

As a side note, in December 1979, as silver was making its historic run, an old Jewish trader told me he was lightening up on Ag.

When I asked why he said "I hear the Indian ladies are taking their bracelets off and they've been trading it longer than I have".