International Campaigns

Major Economies Forum on Climate Change and Energy

On March 28th, 2009, President Obama announced the launch of the Major Economies Forum on Energy and Climate.  According to a White House statement, the objective of the “Forum” (informally known as the MEF) is twofold:  to "help generate the political leadership necessary to achieve a successful outcome at the United Nations climate change negotiations that will convene this December in Copenhagen” and secondly, to bring together developed and developing nations to advance “concrete initiatives and joint ventures that increase the supply of clean energy while cutting greenhouse gas emissions.”  The Forum will provide the world’s major economies the opportunity to engage in intimate and informal dialogues surrounding international solutions to climate change that can advance the discussions taking place in upcoming bilateral negotiations, smaller multilateral meetings such as the G8 and larger venues like United Nations.  A similar process was initiated under the last administration, but a clear commitment to clean energy and global warming legislation from President Obama has changed the tenor in which the Forum is being viewed.   Since taking office, President Obama has called on Congress to pass a comprehensive domestic climate and energy plan, and has taken the first steps of leadership on the issue of international climate negotiations.  Both domestic and international efforts will generate jobs, reduce dependence on oil, and decrease pollution that causes global warming. 

The United States has invited sixteen of the world largest economies (totaling over 80% of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions-see chart) to participate in the Forum.  Additional invitations were extended to the Secretary General of the United Nations, the Executive Secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), along with Denmark, the president and host city of the December 2009 Conference of Parties. 

The first Forum took place in Washington, DC from April 27-28.   The U.S. invited the sixteen largest world economies: Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, the European Union, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Korea, Mexico, Russia, South Africa, and the United Kingdom.  As was expected, no major announcements were made, but the dialogues began in a positive manner.  The speech given by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and the informal meeting with President Obama both signaled a new level of commitment the administration has for the issue of climate change.  The second Forum took place in Paris, France from May 25-26.  This meeting focused more heavily on the details of the Copenhagen agreement and parties began taking firm stances on issues such as emissions targets.  Many nations including the EU and Australia pressed the United States to increase their target while China indicated a willingness to cap their emissions and designate a peak emissions year.  Significant progress was made on the issue of finance as countries showed support for the Mexican proposal, which calls for each nation’s financial contributions to be differentiated according to criteria such as population, emissions or gross domestic product.  The location and dates for the third Forum were also set at this meeting, which will take place June 22-23 in Mexico.  The fourth meeting, where countries are likely to be represented by heads of state, will take place following the G8 meeting in L’Aquila, Italy on July 11.  The Obama Administration has expressed intentions to announce two or three major developments likely on finance and technology at this forth meeting.

History of The Major Economies Meetings
The new Major Economies Forum announced by President Obama builds off of an initiative started by the Bush administration in 2007, the Major Economies Meetings on Energy Security and Climate Change, which came to be known as the “MEM.”  Like the Forum, sixteen nations representing some of the largest economies of the world were invited to discuss climate change. 

On “The Road to Copenhagen”
The Forum proposed by President Obama possesses the key formula needed to inject concrete policy proposals and momentum into the laggard international climate negotiations.  However, if these talks are to truly change the current gridlock in the climate negotiations, both developed and developing nations will need to start making forthright pledges for what their nations are willing to accomplish.   To initiate the necessary open dialogue between nations, President Obama and the rest of the developed world must show strong leadership in terms if emissions targets, financial contributions and technology cooperation.  Only through sincere compromises can the Forum achieve its objectives of helping the UNFCCC process lead to an agreement in Copenhagen that limits greenhouse gases and takes the world down the path toward a clean economy.

Find out more:

• Factsheet: The Major Economies Forum: An Opportunity for United States Leadership on Climate Change and the Copenhagen Agreement (PDF)
  
  
• Statement: Pew on the Opening of President Obama's Global Warming Forum - 27 April 2009