Perhaps the most important long term result of this effort will be the stimulus it gives to California green technology, and that, by itself, is worth the pitch.
Governor's climate pitch
At U.N., he urges new pact, says California will help poor nations go green.
By Kevin Yamamura - Bee Capitol Bureau
Published 12:00 am PDT Tuesday, September 25, 2007
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger urged international leaders to reach a new climate change agreement that moves past the 1997 Kyoto Protocol and includes developing and wealthy nations in a Monday address at the United Nations in New York.
The Republican governor, speaking at the U.N. "high-level" climate change summit, portrayed California as a breeding ground of environmental technologies for the rest of the world, suggesting the state will bring down costs enough to help poor nations switch to clean alternatives.
Environmentalists saw Schwarzenegger as possibly upstaging President Bush, who has faced international criticism for resisting mandatory greenhouse gas reductions. Bush has opposed the 1997 Kyoto Protocol agreement signed by 35 nations to lower greenhouse gas emissions by 2012.
More than 80 heads of state were in attendance, according to the Associated Press, but not Bush. The Republican president was expected to attend a small dinner with U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and other international leaders Monday night to discuss climate change.
Schwarzenegger did not hide his belief that California, rather than the Bush administration, is guiding U.S. policy on climate change. The governor earlier this year threatened to sue the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency if it does not decide by October whether to grant California a waiver to impose greenhouse gas emissions standards on automobiles.
"California is moving the United States beyond debate and doubt to action," Schwarzenegger declared. "So I urge this body to push its members to action also."
