The third day of the UN climate conference in Copenhagen saw another political argument between the two biggest players – and polluters – China and the United States.
China: the US and EU must present deeper cuts
Chinese climate official blames the US, EU and Japan for too low ambitions on emissions cuts.
At a press conference Tuesday, the Deputy Head of the Chinese delegation, Su Wei (photo above), said neither the US, the EU, nor Japan had offered sufficient cuts in their greenhouse gas emissions by 2020.
According to Su Wei, the US target on emissions reduction and the US financial support to developing nations are key to the success of the ongoing climate change conference.
Su Wei rejected an EU proposal that the economically advanced developing nations commit to emissions reductions and pay part of the public financing of adaptation and mitigation to climate change in the developing countries.
The targets proposed by China were in line with UNFCCC frameworks, Su Wei noted according to the Nigerian daily This Day, and added: “The EU position cannot be justified…. The [Kyoto] protocol among other UNFCCC agreements stipulate clearly what developed and developing countries should do.”
According to the Kyoto Protocol no developing nations are committed to emission cuts or sharing of funding for mitigation and adaptation in poor parts of the world.
US fires back at China
Just landed in Copenhagen, American climate change envoy Todd Stern responds to statements by Chinese top negotiator.
Statements by Su Wei, Deputy Head of the Chinese COP15 delegation, on lack of ambitions from the US were opposed by Todd Stern, President Barack Obama’s climate change envoy, as he arrived Wednesday at the conference in Copenhagen.
“The country whose emissions are going up dramatically, really dramatically, is China,” Todd Stern said according to Bloomberg – adding that “there can’t be a new agreement without China”.
According to The Australian, Su Wei said that the present target announced by the US translates into a one percent cut below 1990 levels, adding that:
“I’m not very good at English, but I doubt whether just a one percent reduction can be described as remarkable or notable.”
Todd Stern commented that the US target – a 17 percent cut by 2020 compared to 2005 - is based on pending legislation.
“God willing, in the spring the US will be able to report to the UN that our target is even higher,” Mr. Stern said, according to Bloomberg.
Stern also expressed support for a UN call for 10 billion US dollars to be provided internationally from 2010 to 2012 for short-term adaptation in vulnerable countries
Developing countries split on demands
Small island states and poor African nations on Wednesday wanted the climate conference to aim at a legally binding deal tougher than the Kyoto Protocol. Richer developing countries opposed the proposal.
The split appeared after several small island states and poor African states had demanded a legally binding treaty to aim at a maximum global warming of 1.5 degrees Celsius. They also wanted greenhouse gas concentrations stabilized at 350 parts per million (ppm) rather than the 450ppm favored by developed countries and some major developing nations.
The small islands states and their supporters claimed the existing agreement, the Kyoto Protocol, was not tough enough for the countries most vulnerable to the consequences of climate change. They wanted a new legally-binding protocol to run alongside the existing Kyoto Protocol.
The demand was opposed by fast-growing developing economies such as China, India and South Africa, who thought it would retard their economic development, BBC News reports.
“The main task of this (conference) is to adapt an agreed outcome from the Bali Action Plan [agreed in 2007] and we should very much focus on that,” said China's lead negotiator Su Wei, according to BBC News.
“We have a very valid system to combat climate change,” he added.
EPA chief: US will regulate CO2 with common sense
The United States for the first time outlined a dual path toward cutting greenhouse gases that would involve both President Barack Obama's administration and the US Congress to reduce greenhouse emissions.
Speaking Wednesday at the UN climate conference in Copenhagen, Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa Jackson (photo above) described her agency's decision that greenhouse gases should be regulated as complementary to US legislation — not an effort to supplant the work of Congress.
"This is not an either/or moment. This is a both/and moment," she told.
The EPA on Monday gave the president a new way to cut back on greenhouse gas emissions when the agency determined that scientific evidence clearly shows they are endangering Americans' health. That means the EPA could regulate those gases without the approval of the U.S. Congress.
The EPA decision was welcomed by other nations in Copenhagen that have called on the US to boost its efforts to cut greenhouse gas emissions.
The full US Senate has yet to take up legislation that cleared the Senate environment committee and calls for greenhouse gases to be cut by 20 percent by 2020, a target that was scaled back to 17 percent in the House after opposition from coal-state Democrats.
"We need legislation" to remove any uncertainty that businesses might have, Jackson added. "The reason for legislation is to take that question out of their minds. ... We will work closely with our Congress to pass legislation to lower our greenhouse gases more than 80 percent by 2050."
Jackson said the US would take "reasonable efforts" and also "meaningful, common sense steps" to cut emissions, but didn't provide specifics.
Negotiators on Wednesday, meanwhile, worked to bridge the chasm between rich and poor countries over how to share the burden of fighting climate change, and the top US climate envoy, Todd Stern, highlighted the Obama administration's efforts to curb greenhouse emissions.
"We are under no illusion this is going to be easy," Stern said. "But I think an agreement is there to be had if we do this right."
Denmark ready to pay its share
Denmark is one of the first countries in the world to earmark financing for developing countries to strengthen their capacities to tackle climate change in the short term, the Danish government says.
Provided there is a global climate deal and other countries pay their share too, Denmark will fund 0.16 billion euro to help developing countries strengthen their capacities to tackle climate change in the short term (2010-2012).
The Danish funding is in line with EU’s opinion that a deal is needed on both “fast start” financing for developing countries from 2010-2012, followed by a significant scaling up of public and private financial flows to developing countries from 2013. EU has estimated the need for 2010-2012 to 5 to 7 billion euro, according to EU Business.
In a press release, the Danish government states that Denmark in this way wants to contribute to immediate action taking place in developing countries shortly after the climate change conference.
“We want to send a clear signal to other nations that finance is needed on the negotiating table in Copenhagen. Without finance for the poorest countries that are to be hardest hit by climate change there will be no climate deal,” says Ulla Tørnæs, the Danish Minister for Development Cooperation.
source< http://en.cop15.dk/news/view+news?newsid=2911
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