UN Climate Summit: No breakthroughs, but rays of hope

China proved to be the hero of the day at yesterday's United Nations Climate Summit, while the United States stayed more or less in its new version neutral.

In one of the sharpest breaks with its predecessor on the international stage, the Obama administration has promised that the United States is in the game on climate change policy, ready to cut emissions, fund research and development, and help developing nations both adapt to the worst impacts of global warming, and avoid using the energy technologies that got the world into to the sweaty spot we're in today.

President Obama did not make any firm commitments to emissions cuts or other actions in his speech to the summit yesterday, however, while President Hu Jintao of China did come very close, listing a series of steps his nation is prepared to take if other major economies will act as well.

Hu vowed that China would curb the growth of its greenhouse-gas emissions by a “notable margin” from 2005 levels by 2020, as I write at Grist. He also said the nation would generate 15 percent of its power from renewables and nuclear by 2020, and plant 150,000 square miles of new forest over that same period. Hu committed to improving energy efficiency and integrating climate action into domestic economic development plans, as well.

I came away from various conversations with the impression that for any international treaty to succeed, it is still considered vital that the U.S. make well-defined commitments to slashing its greenhouse gas pollution, as well as helping other nations with both aid dollars and technical assistance to mitigate and adapt to climate change.

President Obama lauded US accomplishments to date, exhorted the room to act, and affirmed that the US is in the game to play well -- if hard-- with others, rather than to block the ball.

But it's by no means a unilateral situation. China stepped out as a leader yesterday, earning praise across diplomatic and non-governmental fronts. Japan's new prime minister has committed that nation to 25% cuts by 2020, more than is required under the Kyoto climate agreement. Both the European Union and the United Kingdom have offered up firm dollar amounts for climate aid to developing nations. They may be debatable figures, but at least they're on the table.

Overall, the Climate Summit does seem to have increased the pressure on nations and negotiators to make big strides toward a new treaty, when they meet in Copenhagen in December.

Next up: the Group of 20 major economies meeting in Pittsburgh. It's unclear at the moment how central climate issues will be to that meeting, which is largely to be about trade and other policies in relation to the ongoing global economic recession. But given the financial agenda, developing nations are expected to bring up their case for working adaptation and mitigation financial aid into the picture.