US: no climate deal before Copenhagen

OK, Kevin Rudd and Penny Wong. Please explain why Australia should bind itself to emissions targets before Copenhagen when the US, China and India are doing no such thing?

A top aide to US President Barack Obama said there was virtually no chance Congress would have a climate and energy bill ready for him to sign before negotiations on a global climate treaty begin in December in Copenhagen, The New York Times reported Saturday.

The newspaper said the prediction was offered by Carol Browner, director of the White House Office of Energy and Climate Change Policy, during an onstage interview in Washington.

It was the first definitive statement by the administration that it saw little chance of congressional passage of this bill this fall, the report said.

Read it here.