No final deal expected during summit, but Copenhagen draws plenty of interest

By Jim Snyder
The Hill

Read the full story at The Hill

The climate change summit at Copenhagen, which starts this week, isn’t likely to end with a legally binding agreement to cut carbon dioxide emissions to curb global warming.

But that’s not keeping environmental advocates, manufacturers, clean tech executives and others from attending in hopes of influencing the negotiations, which may lead to a series of less far reaching political agreements among participating countries.

“It’s better to have your voice heard now than waiting to later if the political framework is going to impact what a final agreement will look like,” said Kateri Callahan, president of the Alliance to Save Energy, a group of lawmakers, environmental advocates and corporate executives that support energy conservation efforts.

Callahan said a number of companies represented in the Alliance plan to attend the summit.

Stephen Eule, vice president of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s energy policy arm, called Copenhagen an “important way station” to a final global deal on climate change. The Chamber is sending Eule to continue to press businesses concerns about how a carbon cap could limit economic growth.

“It is a chance for business to get our message out to a large audience,” he said.

Energy lobbyists describe United Nations negotiations as sufficiently confusing and Byzantine as to make Congress seem efficient and straightforward by comparison. With a binding agreement unlikely, some industries are sitting it out. The coal industry seems to be largely skipping the event, even though it’s likely to be among the most impacted by a carbon cap.

For companies that operate in the United States, the main stage remains Congress, which will impose the rules under which they would have to comply and where specific earmarks to their particular benefit can be sought.

Still, interests like labor, energy efficiency advocates and companies of various stripes want to make sure the outline of a carbon cutting system covers their own interests.

Advocates for climate legislation in particular want to squeeze as much as possible out of Copenhagen to rebuild momentum here for a cap and trade bill.

...

Eule of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s Institute for 21st Century Energy said the business group wants to maintain a dialogue among international companies that started in earnest in September at an event the group sponsored in Washington, D.C.

He said companies often have felt left out of the negotiating process on climate issues, but can be important players in a final overarching climate treaty.

“We have the expertise. We’ll be responsible for the financing, the next step in technological developments,” he said. “There are a number of issues that will have a direct impact on businesses. We can say, this doesn’t work, but this might.”

Read the full story at The Hill