Delegates discuss way forward in UN climate talks

BARCELONA, Spain (AP) – UN climate negotiators assured Friday that, despite low expectations for setting legally binding emissions targets next month, it is still possible to conclude a strong, 192-nation deal to define future work in fighting global warming.

Countries most vulnerable to climate change said they were incensed that rich nations were rethinking the timetable for concluding a legally binding treaty.

Delegates were spending the final day of UN climate talks in Spain hammering out a draft political agreement in which rich nations would make hard pledges to reduce emissions and to finance aid for helping the world's poorest cope with the affects of Earth's rising temperatures.

The idea of next month's UN climate conference in Copenhagen ending with a political deal, rather than a legally binding agreement, disappointed developing nations already suffering severe droughts, floods and other catastrophes blamed on rising temperatures.

The shift follows acknowledgment that several countries, including the United States, may not be politically ready to sign a legal pact by next month.

Yvo de Boer, the UN official who is shepherding the talks, assured that negotiators were still aiming to achieve a significant deal that would set specific goals, even if they weren't yet legally binding.

Nations would agree to stick to their promises while negotiating the details of the treaty, taking as long as another year.

“Governments can deliver a strong deal in Copenhagen, and nothing has changed my confidence in that,” de Boer said.

While he said he could not guarantee promises would not be broken, it would be difficult for developed countries “to wiggle out of their commitments” as laid out in a Copenhagen deal.

The deal may take the form of consensus decisions including an overarching statement of long-term objectives, along with a series of supplemental decisions on technology transfers, rewards for halting deforestation and building infrastructure in poor countries to adapt to global warming, delegates said.

De Boer said he was looking to the United States to announce a clear emissions target for 2020. “A number from the president of the United States would have huge weight,” de Boer said.

The Copenhagen deal now expected would carry the authority of world leaders who would sign off on it. De Boer suggested 40 heads of government would be attending the Copenhagen summit, though the Danish government said that number was not yet confirmed.

The head of the bloc of developing nations criticized rich nations for failing expectations after two years of tough negotiations for a legal treaty.

“Nonperformance, nondeliverance and noncommitment by the developed countries is acting as a break for any meaningful progress,” Sudanese delegate Lumumba Di-Aping said.

“We need a real change of heart and mind by the developed countries,” which he accused of seeking to “relieve themselves of the commitment by asking the poorest of the world and the most vulnerable and the most underdeveloped to subsidize their high standard of living.”

Di-Aping also complained that rich nations so far were offering too little in emissions cuts. Scientists say industrial countries should reduce emissions by 25 to 40 percent from 1990 levels to avoid climate catastrophe. Di-Aping said their pledges amounted to 11-15 percent.

The head of the Indian delegation, Shyam Saran, said Copenhagen's success would depend on rich nations presenting significant reduction targets, but that an agreement by all 192 nations could still be binding.

“We don't share view that it is no longer possible. If it were no longer possible, we would rather pack up and go home,” Saran said.

The delegate from Sweden, which holds the EU presidency, downplayed the tumult in negotiations and said a serious deal can still be reached next month.

“We are going to change the fundaments of industrial civilization, so it's no wonder there is a lot of activity going on in a negotiation like this,” Anders Turresson said.

Some delegates warned, however, that a watered-down deal could face trouble at Copenhagen.

“The Africans do not intend to say 'yes' to a weak deal,” said Tove Ryding from environmental group Greenpeace. “Failure is still an option on the table.”

A bloc of 43 island nations urged leaders of the world's industrial nations to double efforts toward concluding a legally binding pact during the December summit.

“Weak political declarations are not the solution,” said a statement by the chairman of the Alliance of Small Island States, Grenada delegate Ambassador Dessima Williams.

A Copenhagen deal would hinge, however, on decisions that can only be taken at the top political level. They include: carbon emission reduction targets by 2020 from industrial countries; firm plans by developing countries to reduce the growth of their emissions; specific short- and long-term financial commitments to poor countries to adapt to climate change; and a mechanism for distributing the funds that will be controlled by the developing countries.

Even an interim deal would clear the way to mobilize funds to help poor countries. The EU has said euro5 billion to euro7 billion ($7.4 billion to $10.4 billion) would be needed in the next three years for developing nations to begin planning their first steps toward controlling their emissions and protecting themselves against the effects of climate change.

By 2020, the EU says, $150 billion (euro101 billion) a year is needed to fight climate change in the developing world.

The delay in brokering a legally binding document is significant. The only instrument for controlling carbon emissions, the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, expires in 2012. Unless a new treaty is in place by then, no regulations will exist, threatening chaos among industries relying on predictable rules for their business development.

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