While global officialdom sought to restrain expectations for the Bali meeting on climate change, there were signs that progress could come, if the US is ready to engage with the international community.
First, Australia, with a new Prime Minister at the helm, ratified the Kyoto Protocol, a significant, if largely symbolic act. The action means that the US is now officially alone among industrialized nations in its resistance to hard emissions caps.
Then, China, which is predicted to pass the US as the biggest carbon emitter next year, began a push to get the world's most developed countries to cut 1990 emissions levels up to 40% by 2050. While pressure from China alone is not going to persuade the US to do much, a Chinese-European alliance could shift the balance of power away from US positions.
On the other hand, there is some scuttlebutt about that Canada and Japan could join the US in resisting hard emissions caps unless China and India get on board first.
In short, only small steps today, but perhaps they are signals of a breakthrough to come. As Grist's Tom Athanasiou summarized a good approach for the next week, "On one hand, we have to slog on as best we can, one step at at time. On the other, we have to lift our eyes from the tactical scrum and look ahead, from the week's battles to the year's and the decade's."
