Secretary of State John Kerry Will Attend Lima Climate Change Conference

Lima, Peru – The ministerial
segment of the 20th Conference of the Parties (COP-20) to the
United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC)
opens today. Secretary of State John Kerry is reportedly flying
down to join the negotiations as way to signal to the world how
seriously the Obama administration takes the threat of man-made
global warming. The New York Times
reports:

Secretary of State John Kerry will arrive
on Thursday to strongly urge negotiators to reach a deal, according
to sources familiar with Mr. Kerry’s plans but unauthorized to
speak to the media. Typically, the secretary of state would not
join diplomatic negotiations at this level, but Mr. Kerry has made
climate
change a
priority of his tenure….

Negotiators are hoping to produce a draft of a [climate] deal by
the end of the conference on Friday or Saturday, with the
expectation that world leaders will sign on to the final plan next
year in Paris. President Obama, using his executive authority, has
already pushed through a set of climate change regulations in the
United States.

This would be the first time that such a high-level American
official has attended a COP since the failed United Nations
conference in Copenhagen back in 2009.

I will be exploring in a later dispatch from the conference how
the Obama administration hopes to avoid submitting whatever deal is
reached in Paris next year to the advice and consent of the U.S.
Senate.