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Source: Reuters -
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A binding international treaty to limit greenhouse gas emissions
will slip to mid-2010 or beyond and a summit in Copenhagen next
month will fall short of its ambitions, the United Nations and
Denmark said.
The United Nations' top climate official said a treaty could be
wrapped up at talks in Bonn by mid-2010.
Denmark, host of next month's meeting, said it might take longer
- until Mexico in December. Negotiations on a deal, initially due
to be reached at the December 7-18 summit in Copenhagen, have
stalled.
US President Barack Obama and some other Asia Pacific leaders
embraced a proposal by Danish Prime Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen
on Sunday that next month's summit should aim for political
agreements but delay a legally binding treaty.
A prominent member of the US Congress also acknowledged it could be
months before the Senate gets around to passing a domestic climate
bill.
Senator John Kerry, who is leading Senate negotiations on a
compromise US measure to tackle global warming, said he and other
Democrats were working toward trying to see if we can get this to
the (Senate) floor sometime in the early spring, as early as
possible.
Denmark still wants the summit to agree emissions cuts by each
developed country, actions by developing nations to slow their
rising emissions, and new funds and technology to help the
poor.
Yvo de Boer, head of the UN Climate Change Secretariat, said he
favoured at most a six-month delay for a legally binding deal -
until a meeting in Bonn in mid-2010. That would give time for the
US Senate to pass carbon-capping laws, he said.
"It's like metal, you've got to beat it when it's hot," he said at
two days of talks involving 40 environment ministers.
They are trying to end rich-poor splits blocking even a
political deal for sharing out greenhouse gas curbs.
"If we get clarity on (emission) targets, developing country
engagement and finance in Copenhagen, which I'm confident we will,
then you can nail that down in a treaty form six months
later."
Mexican treaty?
Danish Climate and Energy Minister Connie Hedegaard also said the
December summit should end with a clear deadline.
"Maybe a realistic deadline would be Mexico but it depends on how
far parties go on crunch issues," she told reporters.
Ministerial talks are scheduled for Mexico in December
2010.
Denmark wants world leaders to sign up to a 5-8 page political
agreement next month, backed up by annexes outlining commitments by
each nation.
At a UN food summit in Rome, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said:
"I remain positive about Copenhagen. There is no cause for
alarm."
He also said a climate deal was crucial to fighting global hunger
because climate change hurts farm output in poor countries.
"There can be no food security without climate security," he
said.
"Next month in Copenhagen, we need a comprehensive agreement
that will provide a firm foundation for a legally binding treaty on
climate change."
China, which is under pressure to restrict its emissions growth
even though its industrial expansion is very recent, said it was
studying the Danish proposal for a political deal.
China has overtaken the United States as top emitter.
It made clear it is keen to tie down points that have been agreed
in principle on transfers of technology and funding from
long-industrialised nations to the developing world.
India's Environment and Forests Minister Jairam Ramesh said:
"It seems like the inability of the US to come forward with a
meaningful emissions cut by the year 2020 has led to such a
situation ... I am hoping that we can get a full agreement but it
looks increasingly unlikely."
Still hoping
Poor nations insisted that a binding treaty was still possible next
month, even though Obama and most other leaders reckon it has
slipped out of reach, not least because the US Senate is unlikely
to pass carbon-capping laws by December.
"We believe that an internationally legally binding agreement is
still possible," Michael Church, the environment minister of
Grenada who chairs the 42-nation Alliance of Small Island States,
told Reuters.
Developing nations say they are most at risk from heatwaves,
droughts, floods, disease and rising sea levels, and so are
pressing for action most urgently.
