Negotiators at the UN climate talks in Bonn, Germany resurrected the “International Tribunal of Climate Justice” and inserted it into the text they are preparing for nations to agree to at the big UN summit in Paris in December.

The draft text will allow developing nations to sit in judgment over the U.S. and its allies, but not subject those nations to the tribunal’s jurisdiction themselves.

From the October 20th UN draft text (full text available at CFACT.org):

“[An International Tribunal of Climate Justice as][A] [compliance mechanism] is hereby established to address cases of non-compliance of the commitments of developed country Parties on mitigation, adaptation, [provision of] finance, technology development and transfer [and][,] capacity-building[,] and transparency of action and support, including through the development of an indicative list of consequences, taking into account the cause, type, degree and frequency of non-compliance.”

Over 130 developing nations led by South Africa and instigated by China and India are insisting that they will not sign a climate agreement in Paris unless it contains massive redistribution of wealth from developed to poor nations.  Now they want the power to haul the U.S. and its allies before a UN Star Chamber to enforce compliance.

This is not the first time that a climate court has appeared in a UN COP 21 Logoclimate text.  In 2011 a nearly identical provision crept into the text at the UN’s climate summit in Durban.  The provision was stripped from the text after CFACT’s Climate Depot blew the whistle and Marc Morano’s exclusive was picked up by the media.  This time they substitute the word “tribunal” for “court” and insist that the body will be “non-judicial.”

The slight edit to the terminology offers little comfort.

If the climate tribunal becomes the focus of public scrutiny, watch for the negotiators to pull a switch behind closed doors and try and accomplish the same thing by re-branding it an enforcement “mechanism.”

UN_General_Assembly_hallWhatever they call it, countries who sign onto this agreement will be voting to expand the reach of the UN climate bureaucracy, cede national sovereignty, and create a one-way street along which billions will be redistributed from developed to poor nations.  Developed nations would be expected to slash their emissions while the “poor” countries expand theirs.  China, which holds a trillion dollars in U.S. debt, would be counted among the poor.

China and India are delighted.  They would like nothing better than a world where the West cedes the competitive advantages their free market economies created.  They hope for a future where Asia does the manufacturing and the U.S. and Europe do the importing — until their wealth runs out, anyway.

Take a look at the UN draft agreements for yourself.  We’ll update them as things develop.

President Obama and Secretary of State Kerry are mired in foreign policy failures. They desperately want to get this agreement signed so they can claim a victory for their legacies.

How far are they willing to sell out American interests to get this ill-begotten agreement signed?
_________________