Wednesday, June 25, 2008

U.N. agenda for new global climate deal by 2009

A 190-nation U.N. climate meeting in Bali edged towards a deal on Saturday, after two weeks of talks to launch two-year negotiations on a broad pact to succeed the Kyoto Protocol from Jan 1, 2013.
Following are contents of the final draft text, still to be approved by the full conference of ministers and delegates on Saturday, describing the agenda for those negotiations.
LAUNCH OF NEW TALKS
A new U.N. group would supervise work on a new climate deal, to begin "without delay", not later than April 2008, and "complete its work in 2009".
HOW AMBITIOUS?
The level of ambition to guide rich countries' efforts to fight climate change was one of the most contentious issues at the Bali talks.
The United States opposed a European Union-backed range for greenhouse gas emissions cuts by 2020. Earlier drafts had mentioned a goal for rich countries to cut emissions by 25-40 percent from 1990 levels by 2020.
The EU backed down and the final draft relegated the emissions range to a footnote, which cited 2 pages in a report on fighting climate change published this year by the U.N.'s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
Those pages do not specify which one of six emissions-reduction targets countries should aim for. Those goals range from peaking global greenhouse gas emissions in 8 to 80 years time, resulting in long-term global temperature increases after 2100 of between 2 and 6.1 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels.
RICH AND POOR
Another contentious item was how far developing countries should match rich nations' efforts to curb emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases blamed for global warming.
The final draft called on all developed countries to consider "quantified emission limitation and reduction objectives", and "nationally appropriate mitigation commitments or actions".
Meanwhile, developing countries should consider "measurable, reportable and verifiable nationally appropriate mitigation actions", with support for efforts to curb deforestation.
The text said "deep cuts in global emissions will be required" to avoid dangerous climate change.

ADAPTATION, TECHNOLOGY, FINANCING
Many countries worldwide are already suffering from climate change, many delegates said. The final text called for "urgent implementation of adaptation actions" including the "immediate needs" of small island states.
The text asked countries to accelerate efforts to transfer technologies which would help developing countries cut their contribution to and adapt to climate change.
The final draft called for more financial resources and investment for developing countries on adaptation, mitigation and technology cooperation, especially for the most vulnerable.

Link Reuters

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