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Pessimism Clouds Climate Meeting
2010-08-04 15:21:54.50 GMT
By ELISABETH ROSENTHAL
Aug. 4 (New York Times) -- This time last summer, there was
considerable optimism that the world's nations just might be able
to approve a pact to limit a global increase in greenhouse gases
at a United Nations climate conference in Copenhagen last
December.
That meeting, overseen by the United Nations Framework
Convention on Climate Change, ended with a weak agreement known
as the Copenhagen Accord. It was an aspirational political
statement with no clout, not a legally binding treaty. A small
number of the 190 countries in attendance never even endorsed the
document.
The Copenhagen Accord set a goal of limiting the rise in
global temperatures to 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit)
above pre-industrial levels without being at all specific about
how nations would meet that measure. Likewise, without being very
clear about who would write the check, it called for hundreds of
billions of dollars to flow from wealthy nations to countries
most vulnerable to the effects of climate change.
This week in Bonn, negotiators are meeting to prepare for
this year's annual climate meeting, COP-16 (the 16th Conference
of the Parties of the United Nations Framework Convention on
Climate Change), which opens in late November in Cancun, Mexico.
There is little optimism this time around. Even the few areas of
agreement that were hailed as great accomplishments in the
Copenhagen Accord seem to be back on the negotiating table.
The negotiating document for the Bonn session, which ends on
Friday, leaves open - once again -- whether the goal of a new
treaty should be to limit the temperature rise to 1 degree, 1.5
degrees or 2 degrees Celsius.
Delegates will have to decide anew whether developed
countries should "commit to a goal of mobilizing" $100 billion to
support poorer nations or should be "assessed contributions of
1.5 percent of the G.D.P."
Likewise, the negotiating document suggests that delegates
will be revisiting emissions reductions goals for richer nations:
Should developed countries, as a group, be required to reduce
their greenhouse gas emissions by "75 to 85 percent," or "at
least 80 to 95 percent," or "more than 95 percent" from 1990
levels by 2050?
The divisions between industrialized and developing nations
over climate policy seem even deeper than they were six months
ago. China, which has long acted as a spokesman for developing
countries, scolded developed countries on Monday for failing to
accept their "historical responsibility" for climate change and
urged them to do more in the way of emissions cuts, according to
Xinhua, the government news agency.
The European Union, which has led the way in vowing to
reduce its emissions, complained that some of the options
included in the negotiating text seem "outside the realm of what
is achievable," according to reports from the conference by the
Third World Network. Indeed, many scientists say that limiting
climate change to 1 or 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial
levels is probably impossible.
Copyright 2010 The New York Times Company
-0- Aug/04/2010 15:21 GMT
