Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
09VIENNA1264
2009-10-01 09:17:00
UNCLASSIFIED
Embassy Vienna
Cable title:
Austria on Climate Demarche: Can USG Deliver?
how-toVZCZCXRO8845 RR RUEHAG RUEHDF RUEHIK RUEHLZ RUEHROV RUEHSL RUEHSR DE RUEHVI #1264 2740917 ZNR UUUUU ZZH R 010917Z OCT 09 FM AMEMBASSY VIENNA TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 3389 INFO RUCNMEM/EU MEMBER STATES
UNCLAS VIENNA 001264
SIPDIS
STATE FOR OES/EGC, EUR/CE
E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: SENV KGHG ENRG EIND ECON AU
SUBJECT: Austria on Climate Demarche: Can USG Deliver?
REF: A) State 097542; B) Vienna 1155 and previous
UNCLAS VIENNA 001264
SIPDIS
STATE FOR OES/EGC, EUR/CE
E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: SENV KGHG ENRG EIND ECON AU
SUBJECT: Austria on Climate Demarche: Can USG Deliver?
REF: A) State 097542; B) Vienna 1155 and previous
1. EconPol Counselor and EconUnitChief delivered ref A demarche
September 25 to Elfriede-Anna More (advisor to GoA
Agriculture/Environment Minister Nikolaus Berlakovich) and Dr.
Gertraud Wollansky (Department of Air, Soil, and Climate Change).
The Ambassador strengthened the message in a call September 29 on
Minister Berlakovich (prior to Berlakovich's participation in the
2nd Governors' Global Climate Summit in Los Angeles).
2. GoA reps acknowledged and welcomed the USG commitment to climate
action: EU member states "well understand and appreciate" the
Administration's commitment. GoA working-level reps expressed broad
agreement with elements of ref A demarche and the President's
September 22 speech in New York: in a statement issued that day,
Minister Berlakovich called on all large emitters -- specifically
the U.S., China, India, Brazil, and Indonesia -- to take active
roles at Copenhagen (NOTE: the GoA did not participate at the UN
Climate Change Summit). The EU concurs broadly with the "three
groups" approach laid out by President Obama in New York. The
Ambassador and embassy reps encouraged the GoA to use its many
contacts with large emerging countries to emphasize the need for
meaningful action.
3. Working-level GoA negotiators expressed concern about the USG
delegation's ability to deliver at Copenhagen if the U.S. Congress
has not passed an emissions cap by then. "What can the USG sign at
Copenhagen, if the Senate has not acted?" Wollansky remarked on the
slowness of progress towards agreement: the UNFCCC is currently
"buried in hundreds of pages of non-agreed text" with no
breakthrough on the horizon.
YAP
SIPDIS
STATE FOR OES/EGC, EUR/CE
E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: SENV KGHG ENRG EIND ECON AU
SUBJECT: Austria on Climate Demarche: Can USG Deliver?
REF: A) State 097542; B) Vienna 1155 and previous
1. EconPol Counselor and EconUnitChief delivered ref A demarche
September 25 to Elfriede-Anna More (advisor to GoA
Agriculture/Environment Minister Nikolaus Berlakovich) and Dr.
Gertraud Wollansky (Department of Air, Soil, and Climate Change).
The Ambassador strengthened the message in a call September 29 on
Minister Berlakovich (prior to Berlakovich's participation in the
2nd Governors' Global Climate Summit in Los Angeles).
2. GoA reps acknowledged and welcomed the USG commitment to climate
action: EU member states "well understand and appreciate" the
Administration's commitment. GoA working-level reps expressed broad
agreement with elements of ref A demarche and the President's
September 22 speech in New York: in a statement issued that day,
Minister Berlakovich called on all large emitters -- specifically
the U.S., China, India, Brazil, and Indonesia -- to take active
roles at Copenhagen (NOTE: the GoA did not participate at the UN
Climate Change Summit). The EU concurs broadly with the "three
groups" approach laid out by President Obama in New York. The
Ambassador and embassy reps encouraged the GoA to use its many
contacts with large emerging countries to emphasize the need for
meaningful action.
3. Working-level GoA negotiators expressed concern about the USG
delegation's ability to deliver at Copenhagen if the U.S. Congress
has not passed an emissions cap by then. "What can the USG sign at
Copenhagen, if the Senate has not acted?" Wollansky remarked on the
slowness of progress towards agreement: the UNFCCC is currently
"buried in hundreds of pages of non-agreed text" with no
breakthrough on the horizon.
YAP