No more sense than a sack of hair
The United States reaffirmed support for a U.N. goal of limiting global warming after criticism from the European Union and small island states that Washington seemed to be backing away.
“The U.S. continues to support this goal. We have not changed our policy,” U.S. climate envoy Todd Stern said in a statement on Wednesday.
Almost 200 nations, including the United States, have agreed to limit rising temperatures to below 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 F) above pre-industrial times to avoid dangerous changes such as floods, droughts and rising sea levels.
The EU Commission, small island states and environmental activists urged the world to stick to the target on Tuesday, fearing that Washington was withdrawing support. Temperatures have already risen by about 0.8 degree C.
In a speech on August 2, Stern called for a more flexible approach to a new U.N. agreement, meant to be adopted in 2015 after past failures, so that it could be modified over time to take account of new technologies.
“This kind of flexible, evolving legal agreement cannot guarantee that we meet a 2 degree goal, but insisting on a structure that would guarantee such a goal will only lead to deadlock,” he said in the speech.
