The prospects for success at the United Nations meeting in December in Copenhagen to devise a global accord to fight global warming appear to be receding. Ironically, one reason for the growing pessimism is the bilateral agreement struck by China and India, two of the world's leading producers of greenhouse gases (GHGs). Their deal demands that developed nations take the lead in efforts to slow global warming. It is a signal to the rest of the world that Beijing and Delhi have other options.
High stakes rest on the COP 15 U.N. Climate Change Conference. The meeting is supposed to develop a successor to the Kyoto Protocol, the landmark agreement that sets binding targets for 37 industrialized countries and the European community for reducing greenhouse-gas emissions.
Unfortunately, the United States, until recently the world's leading GHG emitter, refused to join the Kyoto agreement, arguing that developing economies had to be included in any deal. Kyoto expires in 2012, and the fate of its successor rests on that question: What burden will developing countries bear in the fight against global warming?