G8 plus five agree climate problem is urgent
Pastor Dale Morgan
Sunday March 18, 1:44 AM
*G8 plus five agree climate problem is urgent
*
Seeking to kickstart stalled talks on climate change, the world's 13
major industrialised and emerging economies found seven broad areas of
accord for tackling global warming and its effects during a two-day
meeting here.
But the United States blocked consensus for supporting the carbon
market, the centrepiece of the UN Kyoto Protocol's legally binding
approach for tackling the greenhouse gases that cause the problem.
The meeting gathered environment ministers from the Group of Eight
industrialised countries (Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy,
Japan, Russia and the United States) and Brazil, China, India, Mexico
and South Africa.
German Environment Minister Sigmar Gabriel described the meeting as "a
big success" in providing momentum to addressing global warming.
"The discussion was very frank, very open and very free. It was a very
positive atmosphere as well," Gabriel, whose country is current
president of the G8, told reporters.
Yvo de Boer, executive secretary of the UN Framework Convention on
Climate Change (UNFCCC), said: "This meeting exceeded my expectations.
It was a very open, very constructive meeting."
"There's consensus on the need for urgency, on the need to move
forward," de Boer said.
The ministers endorsed scientific evidence about global warming and
climate change and agreed that the solutions for tackling it needed
contributions from everyone, especially from industrialised countries,
delegates said.
They also agreed that measures on climate change should not penalise
developing countries' drive for prosperity, that poor countries needed
more help to adapt to climate shift, and that measures to stop
deforestation should be stepped up.
But the US representative, Environment Protection Agency (EPA)
Administrator Stephen Johnson, objected to an endorsement of the carbon
market as a means for tackling emissions, Gabriel said.
The United States also objected to offering financial incentives for
developing countries that voluntarily protect natural assets, such as
tropical rainforests, the German minister said.
"We thought that was regrettable," said Gabriel, adding though that it
was not a surprise. "(...) You can only be disappointed if you expected
otherwise."
Johnson said there had been "excellent dialogue. It was open, it was
frank discussion."
Explaining US objections on support for the carbon market, he said, "The
important things is that we need to work together to reduce greenhouse
gas emissions to avail ourselves of the tools that make sense to each
individual nation."
A summary of what was decided at the Potsdam talks will be submitted to
the June 6-8 G8 summit at the German Baltic resort of Heiligendamm.
Japanese Environment Minister Masatoshi Wakabayashi said the
Heiligendamm summit would be the arena for debating climate change in
detail and warned it could play "a critical role" in the fate of the
Bali talks.
Negotiations on the Kyoto Protocol's future after it runs out in 2012
take place on the Indonesian island of Bali from December 3-14.
At present, Kyoto will not even dent global emissions of greenhouse
gases, which trap solar heat and thus drive up global temperatures.
The future deal must somehow include the United States, the world's
number one polluter, to help accelerate and deepen emissions cuts by
developed countries, which bear historic responsibility for today's crisis.
Under President George W. Bush, the US abandoned Kyoto, rejecting
especially its capping system by which rich countries -- but not
developing countries -- agree to pollution limits and face penalties if
they overstep them.
The cap, say Kyoto's defenders, is essential for trading mechanisms that
provide incentives to reduce emissions.
At a summit last week, the 27-nation European Union pledged to cut its
own greenhouse-gas emissions by 20 percent by 2020 and deepen it to 30
percent if "international partners" follow suit.
Wakabayashi, speaking at a press conference, said the EU's cut "is a
very ambitious decision and we pay respect to it," although he did not
say whether Japan would take up the offer of 30 percent.
The other challenge in the climate talks will be to encourage big
developing countries such as Brazil, China and India to strengthen their
commitments.
These nations are wary of being lured into making targeted pledges on
curbing their emissions, fearing that this could hamper their rise out
of poverty.