Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
07USUNNEWYORK293
2007-04-14 09:55:00
CONFIDENTIAL
USUN New York
Cable title:  

USUN PERSPECTIVE ON CLIMATE CHANGE

Tags:  SENV ECON UNCSD 
pdf how-to read a cable
VZCZCXYZ0001
OO RUEHWEB

DE RUCNDT #0293/01 1040955
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
O 140955Z APR 07
FM USMISSION USUN NEW YORK
TO RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC IMMEDIATE
RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 1702
RHEHAAA/WHITE HOUSE WASHDC IMMEDIATE
C O N F I D E N T I A L USUN NEW YORK 000293 

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

WHITE HOUSE FOR CEQ CONNAUGHTON

E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/11/2017
TAGS: SENV ECON UNCSD
SUBJECT: USUN PERSPECTIVE ON CLIMATE CHANGE

REF: A. USUN NEW YORK 276


B. USUN NEW YORK 266

C. USUN NEW YORK 246

Classified By: Ambassador Richard T. Miller. Reason: 1.4 (d).

-------
Summary
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C O N F I D E N T I A L USUN NEW YORK 000293

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

WHITE HOUSE FOR CEQ CONNAUGHTON

E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/11/2017
TAGS: SENV ECON UNCSD
SUBJECT: USUN PERSPECTIVE ON CLIMATE CHANGE

REF: A. USUN NEW YORK 276


B. USUN NEW YORK 266

C. USUN NEW YORK 246

Classified By: Ambassador Richard T. Miller. Reason: 1.4 (d).

--------------
Summary
--------------


1. (C) In the absence of a unifying focal point, climate
change debates in the UN system are proliferating at a
dizzying rate, with unpredictable and unwanted ramifications.
This cable outlines strategies that USUN proposes to adopt
in encouraging sensible and efficient UN handling of this
contentious topic. Based on our assessment of currents in
New York, we also suggest some general substantive principles
for any future negotiations that we believe could win broad
UN support. Adoption of these principles would allow the USG
to shape this key debate to our optimal advantage and harness
our natural allies. End summary.

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Climate Creep Pervades the UN System
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2. (C) As a consequence of highly publicized recent
scientific studies, an acclaimed documentary film, and a
concerted campaign by European Union states and sympathetic
UN agencies, climate change debates are proliferating
throughout the entire UN system at a frenzied pace. Notable
examples include the Security Council discussion of climate
change scheduled for April 17; the Secretary-General's
announced plans to highlight climate change at several
upcoming events (the Commission on Sustainable Development in
April, the G-8 summit in June, the UNGA in September, and the
UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC)
ministerial in December); the incoming General Assembly
President's intent to have a thematic discussion and
side-event on climate during or around the UNGA's General
Debate (reftels),and the UN Development Program's projected
November release of its opinionated 2007 Human Development
Report. Climate change likewise features prominently in two
separate tracks of ongoing discussions of UN environmental
governance reform. Finally, debates continue to swirl on the
idea of convening a formal "Climate Summit," pressure for
which UNSYG Ban has recently noted will only intensify
depending on the outcome of the December UNFCCC ministerial

in Bali.

--------------
Bringing Order Out of Climate Chaos
--------------


3. (C) In the face of this onslaught, and with the UNSYG's
office already launching (at this stage by proxy) informal
discussions on how the UN system should handle climate
change, USUN proposes to adopt the following strategies,
unless otherwise instructed, as the basis for our engagement
to ensure efficient and rational treatment of these
discussions in New York.

-- Climate change must remain firmly rooted in sustainable
development, rather than stand on a pedestal of its own or
even as a "first among equals." This view is deeply shared
by developing states (G77) and ingrained in core UN
instruments, but is under constant threat from EU initiatives
notwithstanding lip-service to the contrary. The
controversial UK initiative to raise climate change in the
UNSC is but a recent assault on this principle.

-- Discussion within the UN system of climate change
mitigation should remain the immediate province of the
UNFCCC. Debates in the UNGA and elsewhere must reinforce
this principle in every instance, and defer to the UNFCCC any
substantive engagement on the topic.

-- If high-profile events such as a "Climate Summit" cannot
win intergovernmental support in the UNFCCC, they must not be
shifted to other fora. The decision to convene such
high-level events must go through the intergovernmental
process if it is to have any legitimacy or prospect for a
productive result.

-- Climate change adaptation deserves to be a key component
in discussions on the development agenda. We can and should
readily align ourselves with ideas to improve developing
countries' capacities to respond to emerging problems,
including disaster reduction and response. As numerous UN

agencies deal with either broad or narrowly focused aspects

of development, the diffusion of climate change adaptation
discussions in numerous UN fora is natural and should in fact
be encouraged.

-- There is no institutional justification for using climate
change as a further reason to centralize UN environmental
governance in a top-heavy, bureaucratized new entity such as
the EU-proposed "UN Environmental Organization." Efforts to
link the two must be resisted.

-------------- -
Addressing The Disease As Well As The Symptoms
-------------- -


4. (C) From our New York perspective, these strategies, as
fundamental as they are, nevertheless address only the
consequences of a larger root dilemma: the international
community does not agree on what it knows about climate
change, it does not agree on how to deal with what it thinks
it knows, yet it strongly believes that it must do something,
and something both visible and powerful, on the issue. So in
addition to the strategic issues identified above, we will
also face repeatedly a substantive exploration of causes,
consequences, and both mitigative and adaptive policies to
address climate change and its effects.


5. (C) Despite an aggressive minority's energetic campaign to
steer and shape the debate in ways that could prove inimical
to U.S. interests, the USG continues to have common cause
with the majority of developing states and others who are
alarmed at the possible consequences of climate change, but
are also alarmed at European prescriptions that may have
catastrophic economic consequences but only uncertain
benefit. This "silent majority," however, remains
uncoordinated and in search of an alternative banner to that
of the EU. From our UN perch, it appears that the USG has
ample prospective allies among sympathetic developing states
such as China, Brazil and India, as well as Russia, Australia
and other like-minded partners. We suggest an aggressive
effort to rally our climate allies around a negotiating
position that conforms to the following principles.

-- Any new climate change agreement must have universal
application, if even within the standard UN formulation of
"common but differentiated responsibility."

-- An agreement must have a sound scientific basis that
minimizes risk of unintended consequences that either do
further harm to the environment or squander precious economic
resources without discernible benefit.

-- In order to be politically sustainable, any agreement must
facilitate economic growth and development.

-- Any agreement architecture must allow for maximum
flexibility and diverse mechanisms for achieving agreed
goals. Exclusive reliance on top-down regulatory mechanisms
will neither be acceptable nor achieve a comprehensive result.

-- Technology transfer, scientific research and innovation
are critical elements to addressing climate change, yet these
elements alone rely heavily on private sector and non-state
actors. Any agreement architecture must acknowledge that
reality and create (or at least protect) an environment that
allows those activities to flourish.

--------------
A Prime Opportunity for Leadership
--------------


6. (C) Based on our best judgment of international views in
New York, and given the confluence of recent and upcoming
events, pressures appear to be building inexorably for an
overarching international effort to address both real and
artificially inflated concerns on climate change. The stakes
to U.S. interests are significant, and the best way to
protect those interests is to take a more active leadership
role in the process.
WOLFF