International and National Efforts to Address Climate Issues; Bingaman to Introduce CES Again citing EIA Analysis

UN Chief General Ban Ki-moon, as he opened the final ministerial stage of the two-week conference, stated that an all-encompassing climate deal "may be beyond our reach for now," as China and India delivered a setback to European plans to negotiate a new treaty that would bind all parties to their pledges on greenhouse gas emissions.  Political differences, the worldwide financial crisis and a divergence of priorities among rich and poor countries are barriers to an agreement on a future negotiating path, Ban said. But he urged nations to resolve lesser issues.  "We must keep up the momentum," he said. "It would be difficult to overstate the gravity of this moment. Without exaggeration, we can say the future of our planet is at stake." 

However, leaders in the United States are not so pessimistic.  According to Politico Morning Energy, Senator John Kerry wants to help lead a Senate effort to come up with bipartisan energy proposals that can find their way through the legislative gridlock next year. Kerry and Barbara Boxer have restarted weekly Tuesday gatherings of a group of fellow Democrats that they had led during the cap-and-trade talks.

The Energy Information Administration (EIA) has released an analysis of the impacts of a Federal clean energy standard (CES).  The analysis was requested by Sen. Jeff Bingaman (D-NM), Chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee.  Sen. Bingaman has said that the analysis will inform the development of legislation he plans to introduce in 2012 to establish a Federal CES, which would require electric utilities to demonstrate that a minimum percentage of sales derive from certain clean energy sources.