2010/08/02

(BN) Figueres Urges Smaller Steps at UN Global Warming Negotiations

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Figueres Urges Smaller Steps at UN Global Warming Negotiations
2010-08-02 10:39:24.761 GMT


By Alex Morales
Aug. 2 (Bloomberg) -- Costa Rica's Christiana Figueres took
charge of United Nations climate talks, calling on nations to do
the "politically possible" and take smaller steps rather than
striving for an all-encompassing deal to halt global warming.
After the UN climate summit in Copenhagen in December
failed to produce a new treaty, about 190 countries are still
grappling to agree on more ambitious greenhouse-gas cuts to
contain the global average temperature rise to 2 degrees Celsius
(3.6 degrees Fahrenheit). The task has a "rapidly rising scale
and urgency," Figueres told delegates today at the start of
five days of negotiations in Bonn.
"We cannot cross the ocean on a single gust of wind, but
if we don't raise the sails now, we may never discover a safer
world," said Figueres, who took over from Yvo de Boer on July
8. "Time is not on our side. Decisions need to be taken,
perhaps in an incremental manner."
Countries today are debating future greenhouse gas cuts
under the Kyoto Protocol, the only existing climate treaty,
whose targets expire in 2012. The pact sets limits for all
developed countries except the U.S., which never ratified it.
Yemeni delegate Abdullah al-Saidi, speaking for the G-77
group of developing countries and China, and Vincent Makonga, a
Congolese envoy speaking for Africa, both said the Bonn talks
need to agree on an aggregate level of emissions cuts by 2020
for developed countries.

Pledges to Cut

At present, the UN estimates that pledges amount to a cut
of 12 percent to 19 percent from 1990 levels, short of the 25 to
40 percent needed to meet the 2-degree goal.
The 27-member European Union has said it'll increase its 20
percent reduction pledge to 30 percent if other major polluters
also take action. The U.S., the biggest developed emitter has
said it won't join the Kyoto Protocol and has yet to pass
domestic legislation that enshrines an emissions target.
"We cannot wait for parties outside the Kyoto Protocol to
find motivation before we engage the Kyoto Protocol second
commitment period machinery," Grenada's Dessima Williams told
delegates, referring to the U.S.
The UN last month published a document outlining various
legal options open to countries should they fail to agree a new
set of targets under the protocol before current targets expire
in 2012. The stopgap measures include extending present goals by
another two years.

For Related News and Information:
Top environment stories: GREEN <GO>
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Locations of global energy facilities: BMAP <GO>

--Editors: Reed Landberg, Randall Hackley

To contact the reporter on this story:
Alex Morales in Bonn at amorales2@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Reed Landberg at +44-20-7330-7862 or landberg@bloomberg.net.