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G-20 Pledges Effort at Climate Talks, Fossil Fuel Subsidy Curbs
2010-11-12 19:01:25.432 GMT
By Angus McCrone
Nov. 12 (Bloomberg) -- Leaders of the Group of 20 nations
expressed support today for the United Nations climate change
negotiations beginning later this month in Mexico and the drive
to phase out $312 billion in fossil fuel subsidies.
The group, which includes the U.S., China, Germany, France,
Britain, Japan, India and Korea, said in a statement following a
meeting in Seoul that they would "spare no effort to reach a
balanced and successful outcome in Cancun."
The two-week meeting in the Mexican resort city starting
Nov. 29 marks the annual effort by delegates from some 190
nations to agree to a framework for reducing carbon dioxide
emissions and funneling up to $100 billion to developing nations
seeking cleaner forms of energy.
A year ago in Copenhagen, delegates from 190 nations at the
UN talks failed to agree to a treaty. Instead, a group of
countries including the U.S. and China made an informal accord
that included voluntary measures to reduce emissions blamed for
damaging the atmosphere.
The statement from G-20 leaders today said, "We reiterate
our commitment to take strong and action-oriented measures and
remain fully dedicated to UN climate change negotiations. We
reaffirm the objective, provisions, and the principles of the UN
Framework Convention on Climate Change."
The group will "take steps to create, as appropriate, the
enabling environments that are conducive to the development and
deployment of energy efficiency and clean energy technologies."
Subsidy Curbs
It also reaffirmed a commitment made in Pittsburgh in 2009
to phase out subsidies for fossil fuels, noting that eliminating
the payouts may cut worldwide greenhouse gas emissions by 10
percent by 2050.
"They recognized the substantial progress that has already
been made in the last 14 months and agreed to monitor their
progress over the next year," the White House said today in a
statement.
Fossil fuel subsidies around the world amounted to $312
billion in 2009, according to estimates published by the
International Energy Agency on Nov. 9.
This compares to even higher fossil fuel subsidies, of $558
billion, in 2008, reflecting higher oil prices that year. The
IEA also estimated that subsidies for renewable power and
biofuels were $57 billion in 2009.
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--Editors: Reed Landberg, Will Wade
To contact the reporter on this story:
Angus McCrone in London at +44-20-3216-4795 or
amccrone1@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Reed Landberg at +44-20-7330-7862 or
landberg@bloomberg.net
