The American Spectator

SUBJECT: SCENESETTER FOR YOUR [HRC] VISIT TO PARIS — NOVEMBER 8, 2009

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AN URGENT FOCUS ON CLIMATE CHANGE
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¶10.  (SBU) The French remain divided on how to respond to the
Obama Administration’s approaches to climate change.
Most of the interested public and many in the government
believe that interim 2020 reduction targets, and the level
of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and concentrations at that
time, will determine success or failure in slowing
global warming.  For them, the EU’s target of 20 to 30
percent reductions below 1990 is the sole measure of an
acceptable policy.  Even sophisticated observers are
skeptical that long-term reduction goals legislated in the
United States can be counted on as more than aspirations,
especially if radical cuts are not imposed up front.  We
have reiterated that U.S. laws are reliably enforced by the
Federal government and by U.S. courts, using the Clean
Air Act as our example.  Ministry of Foreign Affairs
officials agree that legislation moving through Congress
and the Administration’s proposals would establish a system
comparable to the EU’s measures.  These officials
regard Environment Minister Jean-Louis Borloo’s public
criticisms of Waxman-Markey as “insufficient on the medium
term goal” as distracting attention from the need for China
and India to reduce their rates of growth in GHG
emissions.