Days before the United Nations climate change conference (COP16) in Cancun, Mexico, Lord Stern, one of the key climate-change negotiators, says that nations that are acting on cutting their greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions may ban the U.S. from selling "dirty" US exports by 2020, reports The Australian.
Lord Stern said in the article: "The US will increasingly see the risks of being left behind, and 10 years from now they would have to start worrying about being shut out of markets because their production is dirty."
The Obama administration officially pledged that the US would cut its greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in the range of 17 percent below 2005 levels by 2020.
Now that the Republicans won control of the House of Representatives, it's unlikely that a climate bill will be passed some time over the next two years. President Barack Obama already has backed away from a cap-and-trade program saying he will work with Republicans on other ways to cut carbon emissions.
It's also been reported that Republicans are already planning to attack the Obama Administration’s environmental policies (EPA) and scientists who link air pollution to climate change.
Lord Stern also said in the article that Europe and the Far East will not have their industries hurt by American competitors that have not paid for their emissions. Products that could be impacted include aircraft, some vehicles and machine tools with a complete ban on some goods.
