Originally posted on sciy.org by Ron Anastasia on Wed 12 Dec 2007 11:06 AM PST
U.S. Resists Calls for Emission Cuts, Threatening Climate Talks
By Mathew Carr and Kim Chipman
Dec. 12 (Bloomberg) -- The U.S. is resisting calls from the European Union and developing nations to commit to cutting greenhouse-gas emissions blamed for global warming, threatening progress on a new accord to fight climate change.
Ministers from more than 130 nations are meeting in Indonesia this week to decide on guidelines for two years of talks to write a successor to the Kyoto climate-change treaty, which expires in 2012. The European Union, a group of 77 developing nations and China say they want industrialized countries including the U.S. to agree to reduce emissions by as much as 40 percent by 2020.
The Bush administration says talks should begin without a set emission target. Without U.S. support, the negotiations may not be completed in time to replace the Kyoto treaty, said Munir Akram, a Pakistan ambassador and spokesman for the group of 77 nations. The lack of an emission-cut target threatens investment in power and carbon-trading markets, UN officials say.
``Talks must have an objective,'' Akram said today on the Indonesian island of Bali. ``If we have a target, then we can construct the means to achieve that target. At the moment there is no target. There is no acceptance of a target.''
The U.S., the world's biggest emitter and the only developed nation not to ratify the Kyoto treaty, is the main opponent to the proposal to reduce greenhouse gases by 25-40 percent from 1990 levels. That's because the Bush administration wants to ``remain open to many options,'' White House chief environmental adviser James Connaughton said. Nations should set a common reduction goal during negotiations over the next two years, not now, he said.
`Stalled Everything'
``The U.S. has stalled everything here,'' said Daniel Mittler, climate policy adviser to Greenpeace, in an interview on Bali. ``The last thing governments should do here is give in to the posturing of an administration that does not represent the American people and will be out of office when governments have to sign on the dotted line.''
The Kyoto Protocol binds 37 nations to cut greenhouse-gas emissions by a combined 5.2 percent from 1990 levels by 2012. U.S. President George W. Bush has refused to ratify the Kyoto accord and the treaty doesn't require mandatory reductions for developing countries such as China.
Delegates must agree to a timeline for a new treaty on cutting greenhouse-gas emissions by 2009, or they will have failed the world's people, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said today.
Signal to Markets
Without a successor to Kyoto, the emission trading market, worth $30 billion last year, ``could disappear,'' said Yvo de Boer, executive secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change.
``Bali agreeing to launch negotiations would be a very important signal to markets and business,'' he said.
A point of contention is how to get clean-energy technology to developing nations and how to reward them for not cutting down forests that absorb carbon-dioxide. Poorer nations are asking for wind or solar energy technology for free or at a discount, while richer nations are balking at such requests.
`While the U.S. has been smiling and nodding a great deal, their words have been those of Dr. No,'' said Peter Goldmark, director of the climate and air program and New York-based Environmental Defense. ``The G-77 response has been to completely fuzz up in turn the terms of what they will commit to discuss.''
`Break the Deadlock'
China and the U.S., the world's largest greenhouse gas polluters, each say they want the other to take on binding commitments to limit emissions in order to participate in a new accord. China's officials say the country needs to expand its economy, while the Bush administration says it is concerned that emissions caps will harm economic competitiveness.
``We have to break this deadlock between the U.S., Canada and other countries and the so-called G-77,'' U.K. Environment Minister Phil Woolas said in an interview today in Bali, adding that the U.K. and EU are playing a ``crucial role'' in doing so.
``We can't be churlish,'' he said. ``We've asked for 10 years for the U.S, to come to the table, and they're here, and they're making a contribution that I believe to be positive.''
The group of 77 developing nations, including China and India, said talks to protect the climate from greenhouse gas pollution had not progressed fast enough.
``Today we are at a crossroads,'' the UN's Ban said at a press conference. ``One path is leading toward a comprehensive, new climate agreement, and another toward a betrayal of our planet and our children.''
To contact the reporter on this story: Mathew Carr in Nusa Dua, Indonesia, at m.carr@bloomberg.net ; Kim Chipman in Nusa Dua, Indonesia, at kchipman@bloomberg.net .
Last Updated: December 12, 2007 10:23 ESTAttachment:
