Gridlock on Global Warming

Hurricane Mitch, which killed an estimated 10,000 people in Central America last month, is one of the many environmental upheavals that scientists relate to global warming, the issue being discussed at a summit of 400 nations in Buenos Aires. The summit is aimed at implementing a treaty, worked out last year in Kyoto, Japan, in which developed nations agreed to reduce the fossil fuel emissions that intensify global warming.

The United States had previously refused to sign the treaty, leading the other developed nations to ask why they should reduce emissions when the world’s biggest polluter is not. It’s a fair question, for while the United States has only 4% of the world’s population, its power plants and cars create 25% of the world’s fossil fuel pollution.

The Clinton administration, eager to sign the treaty, faces overwhelming opposition in Congress. Its critics say the treaty should be signed only after all developing nations also agree to emission reductions. That, however, is not going to happen. Impoverished developing nations like Bangladesh and Mali are plagued by floods and infectious disease outbreaks they believe are linked to global warming.

The Clinton administration will be lucky if it can even persuade lawmakers to embrace modest gains like marketing U.S.-made low-polluting energy plants in the developing world. Last month, Congress defeated administration efforts to eliminate tax subsidies to high-polluting coal-fired power plants.

However, even General Motors and British Petroleum have now issued a call to extend tax incentives to low-polluting industries instead. Renewable energies, healthier and in the long run cheaper than traditional fossil fuels, make sense. The time has come to harness them.