US senators want say on Paris climate deal

OREANDA-NEWS. November 24, 2015. US lawmakers are pressing President Barack Obama to submit any new global deal to address climate change to the US Senate for approval.

A trio of senators yesterday introduced a sense-of-the-Senate resolution calling on Obama to seek their approval of any new climate deal. Approval of such a deal would require approval by two-thirds of the 100-member Senate.

A group of 37 Republican senators also threatened to block US funding of the UN Green Climate Fund, a key component of the UN talks, if the new agreement is not submitted to the Senate.

The non-binding resolution, introduced by senators Roy Blunt (R-Missouri), James Inhofe (R-Oklahoma) and Joe Manchin (D-West Virginia), says any "protocol, amendment, extension or other agreement" that comes out of the Paris climate talks must be submitted to the Senate for approval.

The letter says Obama has not sought congressional approval for the US pledge of \\$3bn to the Green Climate Fund, which seeks to raise \\$100bn/yr globally by 2020 to support mitigation and adaptation activities by developing countries. "Congress will not be forthcoming with these funds in the future without a vote in the Senate on any final agreement as required in the US Constitution," the senators wrote.

The pressure from the Senate comes just 10 days before the start of the COP 21 talks in Paris, which aim to reach a successor to the Kyoto Protocol to reduce global greenhouse gas emissions.

"The international community needs to be aware that the US Congress and the American people do not support President Obama's international climate agenda," Inhofe said.

The legal form of the agreement is one of the key issues that negotiators want to agree on in Paris. The Obama administration wants only certain elements, not including each country's emissions reduction pledge, to be legally binding. But some parties to the talks, including the EU, want the pledges to be binding, which would likely require the agreement to win Senate approval. The US has pledged to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 26-28pc from 2005 levels by 2025.

Supporters of the US position say the Paris talks can result in a deal that does not need Senate approval. They cite a number of past international agreements the US has become a part of without Senate consent, including a UN agreement to reduce global mercury emissions signed in 2013.

The "core" elements of the Paris agreement will likely constitute a legally binding agreement, including sections that say that countries will maintain their emissions pledges, report on their implementation and periodically update them, Center for Climate and Energy solutions executive vice president Elliot Diringer said.

"I would not expect at the end of the day the targets will be binding," he said.