Climate deal sealed by US U-turn
BBC News 15 Dec 07;
Delegates at the UN summit in Bali have agreed a deal on curbing climate change after days of bitter wrangling.
Agreement was reached after a U-turn from the US, which had wanted firmer commitments from developing countries.
Environment groups said they were disappointed by the lack of firm targets for reducing emissions.
The "Bali roadmap" initiates a two-year process of negotiations designed to agree a new set of emissions targets to replace those in the Kyoto Protocol.
The EU had pressed for a commitment that industrialised nations should commit to cuts of 25-40% by 2020, a bid that was implacably opposed by a bloc containing the US, Canada and Japan.
The final text does not mention specific emissions targets, but does acknowledge that "deep cuts in global emissions will be required to achieve the ultimate objective" of avoiding dangerous climate change.
It also says that a delay in reducing emissions will make severe climate impacts more likely.
'Spirit of flexibility'
"This is a real breakthrough, a real opportunity for the international community to successfully fight climate change," said Indonesian Environment Minister Rachmat Witoelar, who served as conference president, at the conclusion of the talks.
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said he appreciated "the spirit of flexibility" shown by key delegations - and was aware that "there is divide of position between and among countries".
"But as this global warming is an issue which affects the whole humanity, whole planet earth, we must have co-ordinated and concerted efforts to address this issue," Mr Ban said.
In London, UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown declared: "This agreement is a vital step forward for the whole world.
"The Bali roadmap agreed today is just the first step. Now begins the hardest work, as all nations work towards a deal in Copenhagen in 2009 to address the defining challenge of our time."
Environmental groups and some delegates have criticised the draft as being weak and a missed opportunity.
"This deal is very disappointing," said Tony Juniper of Friends of the Earth.
"We said we needed a roadmap, but this conference has failed to give us a clear destination."
Emotional times
As talks overran their scheduled close by more than a day, delegates from the EU, US and G-77/China embarked with UN officials on a series of behind-the-scenes consultations aiming to break the remaining deadlock.
The EU and US agreed to drop binding targets; then the EU and China agreed to soften language on commitments from developing countries.
With delegates anxious to make a deal and catch aeroplanes home, the US delegation announced it could not support the amended text.
A chorus of boos rang out. And a member of Papua New Guinea's delegation told the US: "If you're not willing to lead, please get out of the way."
Shortly after, the US delegation announced it would support the revised text after all.
There were a number of emotional moments in the conference hall - the UN's top climate official Yvo de Boer in tears after being accused by China of procedural irregularities, and cheers and hugs when the US indicated its acceptance.
On the road
The document coming out of the meeting, the "Bali roadmap", contains text on emissions cuts, the transfer of clean technology to developing countries, halting deforestation and helping poorer nations protect their economies and societies against impacts of climate change such as rising sea levels and falling crop yields.
The roadmap sets the parameters and aims for a further set of negotiations to be finalised by the 2009 UN climate conference, to be held in Denmark.
By that stage, parties should have agreed on a comprehensive plan for curbing global warming and adapting to its impacts.
This will include:
* emissions targets for industrialised countries, possibly but not necessarily binding
* some softer form of targets or ambitions for major developing countries
* mechanisms for leveraging funds from carbon trading to fund adaptation projects
Earlier, consensus was reached on the principle of rewarding poorer countries to protect their forests.
This is widely acknowledged as the cheapest single way of curbing climate change, and brings benefits in other environmental areas such as biodiversity and fresh water conservation.
Delegates agreed on a framework that could allow richer nations and companies to earn "carbon credits" by paying for forest protection in developing countries.
"We need to find a new mechanism that values standing forests," said Andrew Mitchell, executive director of the Global Canopy Programme, an alliance of research institutions.
"Ultimately, if this does its job, [deforestation] goes down to nothing."
Mr Mitchell said the only feasible source of sufficient funds was a global carbon market.
But many economists believe mandatory emissions targets are needed to create a meaningful global market.
Global warming pact set for 2009 after US backs down
Shaun Tandon, Yahoo News 15 Dec 07;
World climate negotiators set a 2009 deadline Saturday for a landmark treaty to fight global warming after two weeks of intense haggling led to a climbdown by an isolated United States.
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, who flew to the Indonesian island of Bali for a late appeal for flexibility, praised the deal as a "pivotal first step" to confront climate change, "the defining challenge of our time."
Following gruelling all-night talks, the conference of 190 nations finally launched a process to negotiate a new treaty for when the UN Kyoto Protocol's commitments expire in 2012.
It comes after a year of stark warnings from Nobel-winning scientists, who say millions of people will be at risk of hunger, homelessness and disease by 2100 if temperatures keep rising at current rates.
The United States, the only major industrialised nation to reject the Kyoto treaty, reached a compromise with the European Union to avoid mentioning any figures as a target for slashing greenhouse gas emissions.
The deal instead only makes an indirect reference to scientists' warnings that the world must sharply cut back its emissions to prevent what could be a catastrophic rise in temperatures.
But after the summit went into an unscheduled 13th day of talks, the United States said it would not accept the statement as it wanted developing countries such as fast-growing China to make tougher commitments.
The senior US negotiator, Paula Dobriansky, said she had heard "many strong statements from many major developing country leaders on a greater role in helping to address urgently this global problem."
It "doesn't seem it's going to be reflected in our outcome here in the declaration," she said, explaining why the United States would reject the draft.
Dobriansky was loudly booed by other delegations, and a US environmental activist representing Papua New Guinea said to rousing cheers: "If you're not willing to lead, please get out of the way."
After repeated verbal lashings, Dobriansky again took the microphone and said that Washington would "go forward and join consensus," to the cheers of the conference.
German Environment Minister Sigmar Gabriel, a strong critic of US President George W. Bush's climate policy, said he was ready to ask through his mobile telephone for Chancellor Angela Merkel to intervene with the White House.
"I had already typed the SMS after Dobriansky's first statement but then I was able to cancel it," Gabriel said.
"In the end, nobody wanted to have a failure," including the United States, Gabriel said.
"We have achieved more than we could have expected previously, but it is less than what is needed to meet the urgency of the problem."
British Prime Minister Gordon Brown called the agreement "a vital step forward for the whole world". He added: "I am delighted that after two weeks of intensive talks the world's nations have agreed on a Roadmap to achieving a new global framework for tackling climate change. The Bali Roadmap is just the first step."
And German Chancellor Angela Merkel said the Roadmap "opens the way to real negotiations on effective measures to protect the climate, and for binding targets" on reducing CO2 emissions.
"Of course, the road to an agreement to succeed Kyoto is still paved with obstacles," she said, adding that she was "convinced" that Bali will bring real progress.
"The joint stance of the Europeans was an important foundation for this good result. Without it, success at Bali would not have been possible."
The agreement came after extraordinary scenes in which UN chief Ban jetted in for a last-ditch appeal, the UN's exhausted climate chief nearly broke down in tears and conference chair Indonesia apologised for a disastrous procedural mix-up.
"What we witnessed today was an incredible drama," said Alden Meyer of the US-based Union of Concerned Scientists.
"I've been following these negotiations for 20 years and I've never seen anything like it."
Yvo de Boer, head of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, said the deal showed global commitment and broke down the divide between countries with Kyoto obligations and those without.
"In that sense, what we're seeing disappear here today is what I would call the Berlin Wall of climate change," he said.
Hans Verolme of conservation group WWF accused the world of bowing to US pressure and removing a scientific punch needed to fight global warming.
But he also said the Bali talks would inspire environmentalists and activist nations until the end of Bush's mandate in January 2009.
"We have learned a historic lesson. If you expose to the world the dealings of the United States, they will ultimately back down."
Bush has argued that Kyoto is unfair as it does not require fast-growing emerging economies such as China, the second largest emitter after the United States, to meet targeted emissions curbs.
UN eyes global warming pact by 2009
Joseph Coleman, Associate Press Yahoo News 15 Dec 07;
In a dramatic finish to a U.N. climate conference, world leaders adopted a plan Saturday for negotiating a new global warming pact by 2009, after the United States backed down in a battle over wording supported by developing nations and Europe.
The U.S. stand had drawn loud boos and sharp rebukes — "Lead ... or get out of the way!" one delegate demanded — before Undersecretary of State Paula Dobriansky reversed her position, clearing the way adoption of the so-called "Bali Roadmap."
"The United States is very committed to this effort and just wants to really ensure we all act together. We will go forward and join consensus," she said.
The sudden reversal was met with rousing applause.
The upcoming two years of talks, which will hammer out a successor to the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, could determine for years to come how well the world will cut emissions of greenhouse gases blamed for global warming. A year of scientific reports have warned that rising temperatures will cause widespread drought, floods, higher sea levels and worsening storms.
"This is the beginning, not the end," U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said in an interview with The Associated Press. "We will have to engage in more complex, long and difficult negotiations."
The document does not commit countries to specific actions against global warming. It was limited to setting an agenda and schedule for negotiators to find ways to reduce pollution and help poor countries adapt to environmental changes by speeding up the transfer of technology and financial assistance.
All-night negotiations had appeared on the brink of collapse several times. Ban made an urgent plea for progress in the final hours of talks, expressing frustration with last-minutes disputes. He later praised the United States for compromising in the end.
"I am encouraged by, and I appreciate the spirit of flexibility of the U.S. delegation and other key delegations," he told The Associated Press.
European and U.S. envoys dueled into the final hours of the two-week conference over an EU proposal to suggest an ambitious goal for cutting the emissions of industrial nations — by 25 to 40 percent below 1990 levels by 2020.
The guidelines were eliminated after the U.S., joined by Japan and others, argued that targets should come at the end of the two-year negotiations, not the beginning. An indirect reference was inserted as a footnote instead.
Just when it appeared agreement was within reach Saturday morning, developing nations argued that their need for technological help from rich nations and other issues needed greater recognition in the document. China also angrily accused the U.N. of pressuring nations to sign off on the text even as sideline negotiations continued.
In an apparent resolution, India and others suggested minor adjustments in the text that encouraged monitoring of technological transfer to make sure rich countries were meeting that need.
The EU backed the changes, but the United States objected, calling for further talks. Delegates by turns criticized and pleaded with Dobriansky to reverse course.
"We would like to beg them," said Ugandan Environment Minister Jesca Eriyo.
The applause that followed the Dobriansky's reversal was one of the few times the U.S. won public praise at a conference studded with accusations that Washington was blocking progress.
She told reporters later that other delegations had convinced the U.S. that developing nations did not intend to dilute their commitment to take steps to stop global warming.
"After hearing the comments ... we were assured by their words to act," she said. "So with that, we felt it was important that we go forward."
Environmentalists and other critics of the U.S. position cheered the reversal.
"We have learned a historical lesson: if you expose to the world the dealings of the United States, they will ultimately back down," said Hans Verolme, director of WWF's Global Climate Change Program.
For developing countries, the final document instructs negotiators to consider incentives and other means to encourage poorer nations to curb — voluntarily — growth in their emissions. The explosion of greenhouse emissions in China, India and other developing countries potentially could negate cutbacks in the developed world.
The roadmap is intended to lead to a more inclusive, effective successor to the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, which commits 37 industrialized nations to cut greenhouse gases by an average of 5 percent between 2008 and 2012.
The United States — the largest producer of such gases — has rejecting Kyoto, seriously weakening an initiative that scientists agree was already not strong enough to have an impact on the environment. President Bush has argued that the required gas cuts would hurt the economy, and he opposed the lack of cuts imposed on China and other emerging economies.
Critics — including former Vice President Al Gore — accused Washington of stonewalling progress at Bali. But many pointed out that with Bush's departure from office in early 2009, chances were high that the next American president would be much more supportive of ambitious cuts in greenhouse gas emissions.
Another clash at the conference was between rich and poor nations.
Developing nations, led by China, have demanded that industrialized countries — which have grown rich by polluting for many decades — acknowledge their primary responsibility for resolving the problem. Poorer countries fear that they will be forced to sacrifice economic growth for the sake of cleaning up a mess caused by the industrialized world.
Richer nations, meanwhile, are concerned about skyrocketing rates of greenhouse gas emissions in the developing world. China is a primary concern, and many have estimated that it has already eclipsed the United States as the No. 1 emitter.
Bali breakthrough launches climate talks
David Fogarty, Reuters 15 Dec 07;
NUSA DUA, Indonesia (Reuters) - Nearly 200 nations agreed at U.N.-led talks in Bali on Saturday to launch negotiations on a new pact to fight global warming after a reversal by the United States allowed a breakthrough.
Washington said the agreement marked a new chapter in climate diplomacy after six years of disputes with major allies since President George W. Bush pulled out of the Kyoto Protocol, the main existing plan for combating warming.
"This is the defining moment for me and my mandate as secretary-general," U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said after making a return trip to Bali to implore delegates to overcome deadlock after the talks ran a day into overtime.
Ban had been on a visit to East Timor. "I am deeply grateful to many member states for their spirit of flexibility and compromise," Ban told Reuters.
The Bali meeting approved a "roadmap" for two years of talks to adopt a new treaty to succeed Kyoto beyond 2012, widening it to the United States and developing nations such as China and India. Under the deal, a successor pact will be agreed at a meeting in Copenhagen in late 2009.
The deal after two weeks of talks came when the United States dramatically dropped opposition to a proposal by the main developing-nation bloc, the G77, for rich nations to do more to help the developing world fight rising greenhouse emissions.
The United States is the leading greenhouse gas emitter, ahead of China, Russia and India.
Indonesian Environment Minister Rachmat Witoelar, the host of the talks, banged down the gavel on the deal to rapturous applause from weary delegates.
"All three things I wanted have come out of these talks -- launch, agenda, end date," Yvo de Boer, head of the U.N. Climate Change Secretariat, told reporters.
The accord marks a step towards slowing global warming that the U.N. climate panel says is caused by human activities led by burning fossil fuels that produce carbon dioxide, the main greenhouse gas.
Scientists say rising temperatures could cause seas to rise sharply, glaciers to melt, storms and droughts to become more intense and mass migration of climate refugees.
"U.S. HUMBLED"
"The U.S. has been humbled by the overwhelming message by developing countries that they are ready to be engaged with the problem, and it's been humiliated by the world community. I've never seen such a flip-flop in an environmental treaty context ever," said Bill Hare of Greenpeace.
The European Union, which dropped earlier objections to the draft text, was pleased with the deal.
"It was exactly what we wanted. We are indeed very pleased," said Humberto Rosa, head of the European Union delegation.
German Environment Minister Sigmar Gabriel was cautiously optimistic.
"Bali has laid the foundations ...it was hard work and exhausting. But the real work starts now," he said in Bali.
But a leading Indian environmentalist was disappointed.
"At the end of the day, we got an extremely weak agreement," said Sunita Narain, head of the Centre for Science and the Environment in New Delhi. "It's obvious the U.S. is not learning to be alive to world opinion."
Agreement by 2009 would give governments time to ratify the pact and give certainty to markets and investors wanting to switch to cleaner energy technologies, such as wind turbines and solar panels.
Kyoto binds all industrial countries except the United States to cut emissions of greenhouse gases between 2008 and 2012. Developing nations are exempt and the new negotiations will seek to bind all countries to emission curbs from 2013.
DAY OF DRAMA
In a day of drama and emotional speeches, nations had berated and booed the U.S. representatives for holding out. A wave of relief swept the room when the United States relented.
"The United States is very committed to this effort and just wants to really ensure we all act together," said Paula Dobriansky, head of the U.S. delegation.
"With that, Mr Chairman, let me say to you we will go forward and join consensus," she said to cheers and claps.
James Connaughton, chairman of the White House Council on Environmental Quality, said: "This is not a step taken alone by America. This is a step taken by all the countries that the time had come to open a new chapter."
(Reporting by Adhityani Arga, Sugita Katyal, Alister Doyle, Emma Graham-Harrison, Ed Davies, Gde Anugrah Arka and Gerard Wynn; Editing by Alister Doyle)
