Delegates at UN climate talks resisted US pressure to delete
tough 2020 guidelines for cutting greenhouse gases with the
European Commission saying they were a "crucial" element in a draft
text.
The UN-led talks have become dominated by disputes over whether
a text should keep a mention of a need for rich nations to axe
greenhouse gas emissions by 25 to 40 percent below 1990 levels by
2020 to avoid the worst impacts.
Japanese Environment
Minister Ichiro Kamoshita cuts a giant cake representing 10 years
of the Kyoto Protocol during the UN Climate Conference in Nusa Dua,
Bali, Indonesia, yesterday.
Any watering down or removal of the non-binding range would
anger developing nations, which are demanding rich nations do more
to cut their own greenhouse gas emissions.
Washington and Tokyo want the range cut out but it was still in
the latest draft on Tuesday, delegates said.
"Of course it is crucial for the European Union, and not only
for the European Union," EU Environment Commissioner Stavros Dimas
said of the indicative 25 to 40 percent range.
"In order to gather an effective fight against climate change we
need this range of reductions for developed countries by 2020," he
told a news conference at the 190-nation meeting.
The December 3-14 talks are seeking to agree guidelines to
launch formal negotiations on a new deal for all nations to curb
greenhouse gases beyond 2012, widening the current Kyoto Protocol
which only sets targets for 36 industrialised nations.
Washington says a mention of 2020 cuts would prejudge the
outcome of negotiations on a new pact meant to widen action against
climate changes such as droughts, rising seas or a melting of
Himalayan glaciers.
The row overshadowed yesterday's 10th anniversary celebrations
of the Kyoto Protocol, the current UN plan for combating global
warming. Delegates ate a 1.8 m high cake and sang "Happy
Birthday".
"Good progress has been made but it's not a done deal yet," the
head of the UN's Climate Change Secretariat, Yvo de Boer, told a
separate meeting of finance ministers. "It's probably going to take
a couple of sleepless nights to bring all countries, rich and poor,
on board."
Australia's new centre-left Prime Minister Kevin Rudd arrived in
Bali and plans to hand over documents ratifying the Kyoto Protocol
to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today, when more than 100
environment ministers will attend.
Australia's ratification leaves the United States as the only
rich nation outside Kyoto. President George W. Bush argues that it
would cost jobs and wrongly excludes poor nations.
Finance ministers meeting on the fringes of the meeting agreed
to further debate but little else after two days trying to find
ways to fund the fight against global warming.
Indonesia's President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono urged the
ministers to do more. "Ministers of finance can and should play a
much larger and more active role in responding to climate change,
both domestically and internationally," he said.
The United Nations wants all countries to aim for a 2009
deadline to decide on a successor to Kyoto, building on global
momentum after reports by the UN panel this year squarely blaming
mankind for warming, mainly by burning fossil fuels.
(China Daily December 12, 2007)
