Mixed reaction to Bali climate deal
Charles Clover, Telegraph 15 Dec 07;
Nelson Muffuh from Christian Aid said: "We must praise the heroism of some of the developing countries who are far less wealthy and far less responsible for the problem than the US and yet came here with a desire to see a deal agreed. It was their bravery in standing up to the US that no doubt played a part in its U-turn."
Gerd Leipold, executive director of Greenpeace International, said: "The Bush Administration has unscrupulously taken a monkey wrench to the level of action on climate change that the science demands. They’ve relegated the science to a footnote."
A spokesman for Oxfam said: "Despite the scientific evidence, there is no clear goal for global emissions cuts in the Bali roadmap or even a range of emissions targets for developed countries."
Tony Juniper, director of Friends of the Earth, said: "This deal is very disappointing. We said we needed a roadmap, but this conference has failed to give us a clear destination. Many of the developing countries brought good proposals to Bali – they know we need a climate deal – but the industrialised nations have let them down. We urgently need to find a way forward for an international agreement. This is a journey we have to make together."
A spokesman for Climate Change Capital, the British investment bank trading in carbon reductions, said: "From an investment point of view this agreement sends out the right signals – that all the developed world is prepared to sign up to a new set of mandatory emissions targets post 2012. Now the hard part begins, which is to ensure that these targets do enough. Binding emission targets have to be set in the context of the lifetime of business planning. This will create a very substantial market opportunity which is global in scale and then we will see the power of private money working for a moral purpose."
Governments pleased with "defining" climate deal
Adhityani Arga, Reuters 15 Dec 07;
NUSA DUA, Indonesia (Reuters) - Governments hailed a deal on Saturday to start negotiations to adopt a new climate pact, but environmental groups said the agreement lacked teeth.
The deal binds the United States and China to greenhouse gas goals for the first time and a two-year agenda would lead to the adoption in Copenhagen in 2009 of a tougher, wider pact to succeed the Kyoto Protocol after 2012.
"This is the defining moment for me and my mandate as secretary-general," U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told Reuters after the meeting in a luxury Indonesian beach resort.
"All the 188 countries have recognized that this is the defining agenda for all humanity, for all planet Earth."
Environmental groups said the agreement lacked teeth after the European Union abandoned wording urging rich countries to step up the fight against climate change.
Weary delegates gave the United States an ovation after the world's top greenhouse gas emitter abruptly dropped last-minute opposition to an agreement after a sleepless night of talks which had passed their Friday deadline.
"We now have one of the broadest negotiating agendas ever on climate change," James Connaughton, chairman of the White House Council on environmental quality, said in Bali.
The United States had dropped opposition to Indian demands to soften developing nation commitments to a new pact. President George W. Bush in 2001 refused to sign the Kyoto Protocol saying it wrongly exempted developing nations.
CONSENSUS
The EU said it was satisfied with the deal, seeing as key the inclusion of Kyoto outsider, the United States.
"There is only one planet. Together, developed and developing countries can reach success," said EU Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel praised the united stance of European countries at Bali, calling it "an important basis for the good result.
"Of course the path to a successor agreement for the Kyoto Protocol will be difficult. but I am sure the mandate from Bali will soon be shown to be groundbreaking." she said.
British Prime Minister Gordon Brown called the Bali agreement "a vital step forward for the whole world.
"Now begins the hardest work, as all nations work towards a deal in Copenhagen in 2009 to address the defining challenge of our time."
Developing nations also welcomed the deal.
"Here in Bali we reached a consensus, global consensus for all countries," said Hassan Wirajuda, foreign minister of host nation Indonesia.
"No single country was excluded, in a very inclusive process ... we hope it will provide not only a good basis but also the momentum in the coming years."
Canada backed the U.S. view that developing countries had not offered enough.
"190 countries are represented here. 38 of them agreed to take on national binding targets today, we've just got to work on some of the other 150," said John Baird, Canada's environment minister.
Canada and the United States rejected in Bali a specific, EU-backed emissions-cutting range to guide the ambition of rich countries to fight global warming.
The EU's climbdown on targets was the chief disappointment of environmentalists, who had wanted goals matching what scientists say is most needed to limit rising temperatures.
"The Bush Administration has unscrupulously taken a money wrench to the level of action on climate change that the science demands," said Gerd Leipold, director of Greenpeace International.
Activists welcomed the U.S. U-turn, which veteran green campaigners described as unique in climate negotiating history.
"I've never seen such a flip-flop in an environmental treaty context ever," said Greenpeace's Bill Hare. "It clearly indicates the U.S. is unable to face the changing reality of climate change internationally."
