Could this be some good news on the climate crisis?
Not really.
President Obama is "putting in place the building blocks for a climate treaty requiring the first fossil fuel emissions cuts from both the U.S. and China," Businessweek reports.
"State Department envoy Todd Stern is in Doha this week working to clear the path for an international agreement by 2015. While Obama failed to deliver on his promise to start a cap-and-trade program in his first term, he's working on policies that may help cut greenhouse gases 17 percent by 2020 in the U.S., historically the world's biggest polluter."
I realize that China is a major hurdle in all of this, but while I'd like to see this as positive news, I can't get excited about a 2015 agreement given how action needs to be taken now.