Posted on 12 December 2007

 

Source: Japan Today, December 12, 2007
The United States and Japan clashed with Europe over the idea of setting a carbon emissions reduction target as part of efforts to combat global warming as environment ministers and senior officials from 189 countries began a three-day U.N. climate change meeting Wednesday in Bali, Indonesia.

"We don't want to be prejudging outcomes here. We don't want to predetermine where we come out of this process," U.S. chief delegate Paula Dobriansky said at a news conference when asked about the latest draft of a "Bali road map" that calls for carbon emissions cuts for industrial nations of 25-40% below 1990 levels by 2020.

The ministers are striving to launch the road map for negotiations on a pact to succeed the Kyoto Protocol on global warming when it expires in 2012.

"We have put forward, you know, our desire to have a long-term global goal. We do think that there is a need to have targets defined and that's part of the discussions that are taking place right now," Dobriansky said. "It's a fluid process. We are at the beginning of the process. We have to see where it goes."

But the U.S. undersecretary of state for democracy and global affairs expressed Washington's intention to join a post-Kyoto framework. She called for a "flexible" regime that allows "all countries" to take part.

Japanese delegation members said Tokyo supports Washington's position.

"We have been saying that the Bali road map should not contain things that predetermine the future," a senior Japanese official told reporters, requesting anonymity. "We have two years of negotiations before making a final decision."

Japanese officials have said a new accord without the United States and other major carbon emitters would "make no sense" as it would be ineffective in scaling back emissions.

In contrast, the European Union, developing countries and environmentalists have called for including tangible goals in the road map such as the proposed emissions cut target for industrial nations.

The 27-nation bloc has committed itself to cuts of 20-30% below 1990 levels by 2020.

The draft road map, circulated among delegates Tuesday evening, states that negotiations will start before June 2008 and will be completed by the end of 2009 as it takes years to complete ratification.

Along with the numerical target for industrial nations, the draft also calls for "measurable and reportable" mitigation actions by developing countries and spurring technology transfers from developed to developing countries.

"What the world expects from Bali — from all of you — is an agreement to launch negotiations towards a comprehensive climate change agreement," Ban said in an opening address to the high-level plenary session of the 13th Conference of the Parties to the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change.

"You need to set an agenda — a road map to a more secure climate future, coupled with a tight timeline that produces a deal by 2009," he said. "We gather because the time for equivocation is over. The science is clear. Climate change is happening. The impact is real. The time to act is now."

Ban quoted the latest report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change as saying that unless the world acts, there will be serious consequences such as rising sea levels, more frequent and less predictable flooding and severe droughts, famine around the world particularly in Africa and Central Asia, and the loss of up to a third of plant and animal species.

The U.N. chief urged developed nations "to continue taking the lead on curbing emissions," while indicating the need for developing countries to "be given incentives to limit the growth of their emissions."

"Together, we can spur a new era of green economics, an era of truly sustainable development based on clean technology and a low-emission economy," he said.

The Kyoto pact covers only 30% of the world's carbon emissions and fails to cover major emitters such as the United States, China and India.

China and India have been opposed to binding emissions reduction targets, saying they could slow their economies and that rich and poor countries should have "common but differentiated responsibilities" in addressing climate change.

 

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