Where global leadership means stalling and heel-dragging

onMay 14, 2007 @ 09:31 PDT

A spokeswoman for the White House Council on Environment Quality told BBC today that, “the US continues to lead the global effort on climate change.”

Apparently “lead the global effort” somehow means culling language from a draft G8 summit document that would see member nations getting tough on greenhouse gas emissions. The BBC has obtained a document outlining plans for the US to, yet again, water down tough global action on climate change.

While the European Union has already adopted tough emission standards aiming to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 20% below 1990 levels, the US, as the world’s largest emitter of greenhouse gas, continues to play with words instead of showing real commitment.

Watch the US play diplomacy-by-exhaustion at the upcoming G8 with the result being a lot of tough talk, but little in the way of signed on the dotted line commitment.

By Kevin Grandia

Kevin is a contributor and strategic adviser to DeSmog. He runs the digital marketing agency Spake Media House. Named a “Green Hero” by Rolling Stone Magazine and one of the “Top 50 Tweeters” on climate change and environment issues, Kevin has appeared in major news media outlets around the world for his work on digital campaigning. Kevin has been involved in the public policy arena in both the United States and Canada for more than a decade. For five years he was the managing editor of DeSmogBlog.com. In this role, Kevin’s research into the “climate denial industry” and the right-wing think tank networks was featured in news media articles around the world. He is most well known for his ground-breaking research into David and Charles Koch’s massive financial investments in the Republican and tea party networks. Kevin is the first person to be designated a “Certified Expert” on the political and community organizing platform NationBuilder. Prior to DeSmog, Kevin worked in various political and government roles. He was Senior Advisor to the Minister of State for Multiculturalism and a Special Assistant to the Minister of State for Asia Pacific, Foreign Affairs for the Government of Canada. Kevin also worked in various roles in the British Columbia provincial government in the Office of the Premier and the Ministry of Health. In 2008 Kevin co-founded a groundbreaking new online election tool called Vote for Environment which was later nominated for a World Summit Award in recognition of the world’s best e-Content and innovative ICT applications. Kevin moved to Washington, DC in 2010 where he worked for two years as the Director of Online Strategy for Greenpeace USA and has since returned to his hometown of Vancouver, Canada.