Obama’s Nobel Peace Prize: Does his Climate Change Record Stand up to Scrutiny?

Yesterday the Nobel Peace Prize Committee awarded President Obama the Nobel Peace Prize for “his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples. The Committee has attached special importance to Obama’s vision of and work for a world without nuclear weapons… Thanks to Obama’s initiative, the USA is now playing a more constructive role in meeting the great climatic challenges the world is confronting.”

In the past, Nobel Prize winners have included Al Gore and the IPCC for their work on climate change and Wangari Maathai for her work on sustainable development and democracy building. These laureates were awarded the prize for their track record, rather than their stated intentions.

In fact, recent American actions and position in international negotiations on climate change seem to belie the Nobel committee’s laudatory words. And with the Climate Change and Energy Security bill stuck in Senate negotiations (and seemingly losing the push from the White House as Obama focuses on health care reform), the future of this piece of legislation is far from secure.

Rookie of the year, perhaps. Hall of fame, not quite yet.

Image: Wikimedia Commons

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