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U.S. Says Countries 'Backtracking' on Copenhagen Pact (Update1)
2010-08-06 10:53:30.204 GMT
(Adds comment from U.S. negotiator in fourth paragraph.)
By Jeremy van Loon
Aug. 6 (Bloomberg) -- The U.S. is concerned that envoys at
United Nations climate talks are "backtracking" on an
agreement made in 2009 in Copenhagen, the country's lead
negotiator at the talks said.
Some nations are demanding "staggering sums" of money
beyond the $100 billion pledged in Copenhagen to help them adapt
to climate change, while others want carbon dioxide reductions
to apply only to industrialized countries, said Jonathan
Pershing, a State Department official heading the U.S.
delegation.
At stake are decisions on investments worth trillions of
dollars in clean energy, efficiency and transportation
equipment, including an estimated $26 trillion for the power
sector alone through 2030, according to the International Energy
Agency. Delegates and observers said an agreement by the end of
the year is unlikely even as the impacts of climate change are
already being felt around the world, they said.
"If we proceed on the route we are now on, there is no
hope for an agreement" in Cancun, Mexico, the site of this
year's final round of talks, said Pershing. "All parties seem
to be having a difficult time coming to convergence and the text
is larger than it has to be."
Delegates have reopened debates that were resolved in the
Copenhagen Accord, including approaches to cutting emissions
between industrialized and developing countries and how to
measure and verify greenhouse gas output, said Martin Kaiser, an
observer from the environmental organization Greenpeace.
Current pledges by all nations remain insufficient to limit
the average increase in global temperature to 2 degrees Celsius
(3.6 degrees Fahrenheit), which was also agreed to in Copenhagen
last year. The UN estimates that commitments amount to a cut of
12 percent to 19 percent from 1990 levels, short of the 25 to 40
percent needed.
Negotiators are also struggling with the fact that it may
be years before the U.S. passes domestic laws on limiting
emissions, said Christoph Bals, executive director of policy at
the environmental group Germanwatch and an executive board
member of the Munich Climate Insurance Initiative.
"The U.S. is casting a long shadow on the talks," Bals
said. "For the next few years it will be up to China and the EU
to take a leadership role."
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's unveiled a scaled down
energy bill on July 22 that failed to contain a carbon cap for
the electricity sector, a carbon emissions trading system or
renewable energy targets. The U.S. delegation remains committed
to its target to cut CO2 emissions by about 17 percent by 2020
from 2005 levels, Pershing said today.
Business leaders including General Electric Co. Chief
Executive Officer Jeff Immelt and Duke Energy Corp.'s Chief
Executive Jim Rogers have pushed for comprehensive legislation,
highlighting the risks of inaction for the U.S. economy.
Investment decisions are made more difficult because of
uncertainties over potential cost of energy if carbon emissions
are regulated, they've said.
"The question is what's next?" said Norine Kennedy, vice
president of energy and environment affairs at the U.S. Council
for International Business whose members include GE and Coca-
Cola Co. "We have to find a way to move forward."
For Related News and Information:
Top environment stories: GREEN <GO>
News stories about climate change: NI CLIMATE <GO>
Locations of global energy facilities: BMAP <GO>
Top Stories:TOP<GO>
--Editor: Reed Landberg, Randall Hackley
To contact the reporter on this story:
Jeremy van Loon in Berlin at +49-30-70010-6231 or
jvanloon@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Reed Landberg at +44-20-7330-7862 or
landberg@bloomberg.net
