MOSCOW, September 23 (RIA Novosti), Daria Chernyshova - US President Barack Obama’s upcoming speech on climate change at the United Nations General Assembly later on Tuesday is unlikely to change the opposition of developing nations against his green agenda, The Global Warming Policy Forum director Benny Peiser told RIA Novosti on Tuesday.
“Obama's speech will be big on the usual rhetoric, but he won't be able to change the opposition by India, China and other developing nations to Obama's green agenda,” Peiser said, adding, “The global deadlock over a new UN climate agreement is solid and I nobody is expecting that climate summit in Paris next year will deliver a legally binding treaty.”
According to White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest, Obama will announce “a suite of planned tools that will harness the unique scientific and technological capabilities of the United States to help vulnerable populations around the world strengthen their climate resilience."
The United Nations climate summit in New York will be a one-day event and hosted by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon.
Just prior to the summit and Obama’s speech, New York police arrested 102 climate protesters at the Flood Wall Street demonstration on Monday night, which gathered about 3,000 participants. They blocked Wall Street and Broadway, as according to them, the companies located on those streets sponsored businesses and activities that contribute greatly to climate change.
“Large parts of the green movement are using the climate issue to rally against capitalism and free market economies,” Peiser said about the march and the arrests. “By doing so, they are helping to marginalize the climate campaign even further, pushing it into a small political corner of extremism.”
“Their protest against Wall Street is completely futile and will have no effect on US or international climate negotiations,” Peiser added.
Attitudes toward climate change greatly differs between Democrats and Republicans as according to a Pew Research Center August poll, almost 70 percent of Democrats viewed the issue as a major threat while only a quarter of Republicans felt the same.
