Obama Copenhagen > China, U.S. hold key to UN climate talks

Obama Copenhagen :- World leaders tried to rescue a global climate agreement on Friday but the failure of leading

greenhouse gas emitters China and the United States to come up with new proposals blocked chances of an ambitious deal.

U.S. President Barack Obama and other leaders are trying to reach consensus on carbon emissions cuts, financial aid to poor nations, temperature caps and international scrutiny of emissions curbs. There has been progress in some areas, but gaps remain over emissions targets and monitoring, delegates said.

“We are ready to get this done today but there has to be movement on all sides, to recognise that it is better for us to act than talk,” Obama told the conference.

“These international discussions have essentially taken place now for almost two decades and we have very little to show for it other than an increase, an acceleration of the climate change phenomenon. The time for talk is over.”

At stake is an agreement for coordinated global action to avert climate change including more floods and droughts. Two weeks of talks in Copenhagen have battled suspicion between rich and poor countries over how to share out emissions cuts.

Developing countries, among them some of the most vulnerable to climate change, say rich nations have a historic responsibility to take the lead.

The environment minister of EU president Sweden, Andreas Carlgren, said the United States and China held the key to a deal. The United States had come late to the table with commitments to tackle climate change, he said. China’s resistance to monitoring was a serious obstacle.

“And the great victims of this is the big group of developing countries. The EU really wanted to reach out to the big group of developing countries. That was made impossible because of the great powers,” Carlgren said.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton arrived in Copenhagen on Thursday with a promise that the United States would join efforts to mobilise $100 billion a year to help poor nations cope with climate change, provided there was a deal. But there were no such new gestures from Obama. He stuck to the target of cutting greenhouse gas emissions by 17 percent by 2020 from 2005 levels. That works out at 3-4 percent versus 1990, compared with an EU target of 20 percent.

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao also reiterated existing targets, although he said the world’s top carbon emitter may exceed them. “We will honour our word with real action,” Wen said. “Whatever outcome this conference may produce, we will be fully committed to achieving and even exceeding the target.” Obama and Wen then met for nearly an hour in what a White House official described as a “step forward.” “They had a constructive discussion that touched upon … all of the key issues,” the official told reporters. “They’ve now directed their negotiators to work on a bilateral basis as well as with other countries to see if an agreement can be reached.”

Sweden’s Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt, urged China and the United States, which together account for 40 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions, to act.

“The U.S. and China account for almost half the world’s emissions. They simply must do their part. If they don’t, we will not be able to meet the 2 degree target,” he told the conference.

‘NOT GREAT’

Speaking after Obama’s speech a British official said: “the prospects for a deal are not great. A number of key countries are holding out against the overall package and time is now running short.”

Negotiators failed in overnight talks to agree on carbon cuts. Obama and other leaders failed to achieve a breakthrough in talks on Friday morning.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy said Chinese resistance to monitoring of emissions was a sticking point. “The good news is that the talks are continuing, the bad news is they haven’t reached a conclusion,” he said.

A draft text seen by Reuters called for a “goal” of $100 billion a year by 2020 to help poor nations cope with climate change. It also supported $30 billion for the least developed countries from 2010-2012, and said the world “ought to” limit warming to 2 degrees Celsius versus pre-industrial levels.

Scientists say a 2 degrees limit is the minimum to avoid some of the worst impacts of climate change including several metres sea level rise, extinctions and crop failures.

The aim of the two weeks of talks in Copenhagen is to agree a climate deal which countries will convert into a full legally binding treaty next year, to succeed the Kyoto Protocol whose present round ends in 2012. The United States never ratified Kyoto, and the pact doesn’t bind developing nations.

Friday’s draft text foresees “continuing negotiations” to agree one or more new legal treaties no later than end 2010.

WHAT WILL HAPPEN AT THE COPENHAGEN CLIMATE TALKS?

WHAT’S THE STRONGEST POSSIBLE OUTCOME?

A few nations still want a legally binding treaty in Copenhagen but most agree it is out of reach. A legal text would include binding deep cuts in greenhouse gas emissions for developed nations by 2020, actions by developing nations to slow their rising emissions, and a package for finance and technology to help poor nations.

WHAT SORT OF DEAL IS MORE LIKELY?

World leaders would agree what they call a “politically binding” text including targets for slowing climate change by 2020. They would also set a deadline for transforming it into a legal text — a draft text suggests the end of 2010. They might then leave and tell environment ministers to stay in Copenhagen for a day or two to work on details, such as transfers of green technology to poor nations or a plan to slow deforestation.

WHAT HAPPENS IF THERE IS DEADLOCK?

If the meeting fails, leaders could agree to suspend the negotiations and reconvene sometime in 2010 — a similar deadlock happened at a U.N. session in The Hague in November 2000 that then resumed in mid-2001. The next U.N. meetings are set for Bonn in mid-2010 and Mexico in November 2010.

AND IF THE MEETING COLLAPSES?

The worst scenario — a full breakdown in talks — could deepen mistrust between rich and poor nations and undermine confidence in the U.N. system. It would probably also halt consideration by the U.S. Senate of legislation to cap U.S. emissions — other nations’ goals might in turn unravel.

IF THERE IS A “POLITICAL” DEAL, WHAT WOULD IT SAY?

One goal, in a draft considered on Friday, is to agree to limit global warming to a maximum temperature rise of 2 Celsius above pre-industrial times. The poorest nations and small island states want a tougher ceiling of 1.5 Celsius. A big problem is that a temperature goal is vague and would not bind individual nations to act.

The draft does not include another possible target — a bit firmer but still distant — of halving world greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. China and India and other developing nations have opposed such a goal in the past, saying rich nations first have to make far deeper cuts in their emissions by 2020.

HOW ABOUT MONEY?

A draft suggests a fund of $100 billion a year from 2020, raised from public and private sources, to help the poor cope with climate change. And it calls for fast-start cash of $10 billion a year from 2010-12.

WHAT DO RICH NATIONS HAVE TO DO?

They would have to set deeper cuts in greenhouse gas emissions in the years until 2020. A U.N. panel of climate scientists suggested in 2007 that emissions would have to fall by between 25 and 40 percent below 1990 levels by 2020 to help avert the worst of climate change, such as more droughts, species extinctions, floods and rising seas. Industrialised nations’ offers of cuts by 2020 so far range from about 14 to 18 percent.

HOW ABOUT DEVELOPING NATIONS?

They would have to commit to a “substantial deviation” to slow the rise in their greenhouse gas emissions below projected growth rates by 2020, for instance by shifting to more use of solar or wind power and away from coal-fired power plants.

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Obama Copenhagen > China, U.S. hold key to UN climate talks was first posted on December 18, 2009 at 7:36 pm.

Obama Copenhagen Speech

Obama Copenhagen Speech, US president Barack Obama has met with China’s premier Wen Jiabao in what may be a potential breakthrough to stalled climate talks in the Danish capital Copenhagen, according to US sources.

The meeting took place as many look to the US and China – the world’s two largest carbon polluters – to deepen pledges to cut emissions and salvage a political agreement that will cut greenhouse gas emissions.

A senior Obama administration official spoke on condition of anonymity said that both Obama and Wen have directed their negotiators to work further on a deal after meeting for nearly an hour at the U.N. Climate conference.

He said Obama and Wen discussed greenhouse gas emission targets, financing for climate aid and transparency in monitoring nations’ pledges to cut emissions.

Obama addressed world leaders Friday, urging for coordinated, collective action, saying: “I have to be honest – as the world watches us today, I think our ability to take collective action is in doubt right now and it hangs in the balance. I believe we can act boldly and decisively in the face of a common threat. That’s why I come here today. Not to talk but to act.”

He referred to countries making demands on climate change action that he said were an obstacle to global action.

“No country will get everything that it wants. There are those developing countries that want aid with no-strings attached and no obligations with respect to transparency. They think that the most advanced nations should pay a higher price. I understand that.”

The US in turn has been heavily criticised this week for coming too late with an improved offer on money pledged to help poor countries cope with the effects of global warming.

On Thursday, US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton announced an alternative long-range climate aid program.

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Obama Copenhagen Speech was first posted on December 18, 2009 at 9:26 pm.