By Michael Green
Copy of a recent opinion article featured in the June 12th, 2015 edition of The Hill
To applaud German Chancellor Angela Merkel already would be an overstatement, but you have to hand it to her: she is determined, to say the least. Coming out of the G7 summit in Bonn, Germany this Monday, the “climate chancellor” was waving an agreement for the world’s seven wealthiest countries to keep to their climate commitments, which is no easy feat.
As the world heads into the Paris climate talks in December, the diplomatic pressure for a comprehensive climate agreement continues to build. Leaders such as Merkel, Pope Francis, U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and a Republican presidential candidate are drumming up support for action. Merkel’s plan calls for the G7 to commit toward a global temperature rise of no more than 2 degrees Celsius. The agreement also included a global greenhouse gas reduction of 40 to 70 percent in carbon intensive fuel usage from a 2010 base year, and the previously agreed-upon $100 billion for a climate change mitigation fund.
This turn of events comes only days after as the big six oil companies delivered an open letter proclaiming their support for a global price on carbon. Signatories from some of the world’s largest oil producers (including BP and Shell) publicly acknowledged last Friday the global climate trends detailed by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). They also stated how “[they] believe a price on carbon should be a key element” in any policy framework to fight climate change…
