Hope for deal at conference
“A deal is within our reach,” the Danish Prime Minister said on Monday – the first day of the UN climate change conference.
The UN climate change conference opened Monday in an atmosphere of hope for a deal in Copenhagen within the next two weeks.“A deal is within our reach,” the Danish Prime Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen said in his opening speech, stressing that the talks will have to overcome deep distrust between rich and poor nations on how to share the burden of curbing emissions.
The presence of more than a hundred world leaders meant “an opportunity the world cannot afford to miss,” Lars Løkke Rasmussen said.
At a press briefing, the President of the UN climate change conference, Connie Hedegaard, said that “the deadline is working,” referring to the fact that both developed and developing countries had been presenting emission reduction targets ahead of the conference.
Asked if there is enough time to reach a deal in Copenhagen, Connie Hedegaard said that you never feel you have sufficient time for a task that has to be done, but “within the time we have, we must solve the task”.
Besides commitments to cut emissions, a major aspect of the negotiations is financing of mitigation and adaptation to climate change in developing countries. At the press briefing UN’s top climate negotiator Yvo de Boer said that the talks are about the amount of money needed from the developed countries. Yet another important issue is “how do we allocate the still limited resources,” according to him.
On the 17th and 18th of December, 110 heads of states and governments will come to Copenhagen in an attempt to seal a political global climate deal. If a deal is agreed, the UN will aim at transforming it into a legally binding text to replace the Kyoto Protocol as its regulations of emissions expires in 2012.
192 nations at UN climate conference in Copenhagen
The largest and most important UN climate change conference in history opened Monday, with diplomats from 192 nations warned that this could be the best, last chance for a deal to protect the world from calamitous global warming.
The conference, the climax of two years of contentious negotiations, convened in an upbeat mood after a series of promises by rich and emerging economies to curb their greenhouse gases, but with major issues yet to be resolved.
Conference president Connie Hedegaard said the key to an agreement is finding a way to raise and channel public and private financing to poor countries for years to come to help them fight the effects of climate change.
Hedegaard — Denmark's former climate minister — said if governments miss their chance at the Copenhagen summit, a better opportunity may never come.
"This is our chance. If we miss it, it could take years before we got a new and better one. If ever," she said in prepared remarks.
Denmark's prime minister said 110 heads of state and government will attend the final days of the two-week conference. President Barack Obama's decision to attend the end of the conference, not the middle, was taken as a signal that an agreement was getting closer.
At stake is a deal that aims to wean the world away from fossil fuels and other pollutants to greener sources of energy, and to transfer hundreds of billions of dollars from rich to poor countries every year over decades to help them adapt to climate change.
Scientists say without such an agreement, the Earth will face the consequences of ever-rising temperatures, leading to the extinction of plant and animal species, the flooding of coastal cities — about half of humanity lives with 100 miles (160 kilometers) of a coastline — more extreme weather events, drought and the spread of diseases.
Negotiations have dragged on for two years, only recently showing signs of breakthroughs with new commitments from The United States, China and India to control greenhouse gas emissions.
The first week of the conference will be focused on refining a complex text of a draft treaty. But major decisions will await the arrival next week of environment ministers and the heads of state in the final days of the conference, which is due to end Dec. 18.
EU keeps world in suspense on 30 percent vow
Only at the endgame of the Copenhagen summit will the European Union tell whether it considers other nations’ pledges to be “comparable”. A “yes” would raise the EU emission reduction commitments.
To keep up pressure on other major players, mainly USA and China, the EU will hide its cards on a key issue until the very last moment of the UN conference on climate change. This is according to the Swedish Minister for Environment, Andreas Carlgren. As Sweden holds the rotating EU presidency, Mr. Carlgren is negotiating on behalf of the union.
The EU has already adopted a commitment to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 20 percent by 2020 compared to 1990 levels. However, the decision also specifies that the union will raise its commitments to 30 percent if other major players undertake “comparable commitments” – without specifying what would qualify as being “comparable”.
“The EU is ready to raise its commitments from 20 to 30 percent, but this would require others to bring something to the table. The endgame will be about what the US and China will deliver. It would be rather astounding if President Obama came to Copenhagen only to offer what he has already said,” Andreas Carlgren told a press conference, according to Danish daily Politiken.
He added that “we are still expecting larger reductions (than so far committed to) from our Chinese friends and colleagues.” (
EU rumoured to provide “one-three billion euro”
According to Financial Times Deutschland, a European cheque is ready for climate change mitigation and adaptation in the third world during the coming three years.
Quoting an unnamed diplomatic source, Financial Times Deutschland reports the European Union to be ready to put money on the table during the ongoing UN climate summit in Copenhagen as a sign of good faith. The sum will be earmarked for climate change mitigation and adaptation in vulnerable third world countries during the next three years.
In a draft text obtained by the news agency AFP, the amount is just given as “X billion euros for the years 2010 to 2012”, but according to the German daily’s source, the X will be replaced by a figure in the range from one to three.
According to Financial Times Deutschland, the money will send “a right signal in the short run” as the UN has called for urgent support for measures in countries affected by climate change, but also states that the sum is “peanuts compared to the three digits sums that are required in the long run.”
US body aids Copenhagen conference
The Environmental Protection Agency labels carbon dioxide as a threat to human health. This paves a new path to regulation, should a proposed Congress bill fall.
Coinciding with the beginning of the UN conference on climate change in Copenhagen, a US body has opened a new door to legislation that may reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) concludes that carbon dioxide and five other greenhouse gases are a threat to public health. As such, the six substances can be subject to regulation under the Clean Air Act.
“This is very significant in the sense that if (…) the Senate fails to adopt legislation (on emissions), then the administration will have the authority to regulate,” Yvo de Boer, head of the secretariat of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), comments, according to Reuters.
Presenting the announcement Monday, EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson said that the agency is “now authorized and obligated to make reasonable efforts” to cut greenhouse gas emissions, but she also stressed that the agency is by no means suggesting that the proposed Congress bill on climate change is now redundant.
“I don’t want anyone to come out of here believing it’s an either/or,” Ms. Jackson said according to AFP.
Senator John Kerry (Democrat), lead author of the proposed bill, is on the same page:
“This is a clear message to Copenhagen of the Obama administration’s commitments to address global climate change. The message to Congress is crystal clear: get moving,” Mr. Kerry says, according to AP.
However, President Barack Obama still prefers that legislation on climate change is done in response to a court-ordered timetable, AP reports.
At the daily EPA briefing, White House spokesman Robert Gibbs told reporters that Obama "still believes the best way to move forward is through the legislative process."
According to AP, Gibbs suggested that the timing of the EPA announcement and the opening of the UN climate change conference in Copenhagen was coincidental.
சௌர்சே> http://en.cop15.dk/news/view+news?newsid=௨௮௭௨
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment