World "not standing still" on climate pact: U.N.

Alister Doyle, Reuters 20 May 09;

OSLO (Reuters) - The United Nations issued a range of rival ideas for fighting climate change from rich and poor nations on Wednesday and said the world was "not standing still" in work on a new U.N. treaty.

The 53-page text included suggestions that rich nations set aside up to 2 percent of their gross national product to help the poor cope with global warming, while rich countries called for developing nations to do more to limit greenhouse gas emissions.

"This document marks an important point on our road," Yvo de Boer, head of the U.N. Climate Change Secretariat, said in a statement that will form a basis for negotiations on a new pact to be agreed in Copenhagen in December.

"With only 200 days before Copenhagen, time gets tighter but the world is not standing still on climate change," he said. Economic recession has sapped many governments' willingness to step up actions to confront global warming.

The texts included issues such as 2020 goals for cuts in emissions and ways to monitor actions to curb global warming by developing nations such as China and India. Ideas on how to promote the wider use of carbon markets and ways to protect tropical forests that soak up carbon dioxide were also covered.

KYOTO

A first set of proposals for cuts by rich nations in the existing Kyoto Protocol -- which obliges cuts in greenhouse gases of at least 5 percent below 1990 levels by 2008-12 -- was published on Friday. Kyoto comprises rich nations except the United States.

Suggestions in the documents for a long-term global goal for emissions included a 50 percent cut by 2050, limiting temperature rises to 2 Celsius (3.6 Fahrenheit) above pre-industrial levels, or aiming for a global annual per capita emissions of 2 meric tons of carbon dioxide for everyone.

"Warming of the climate system, as a consequence of human activity, is unequivocal," the draft text begins. It warns that global warming will have adverse effects on food security, health and the fight against poverty.

Among areas of disagreement were the levels of cuts in emissions. The U.N. panel said developed nations should cut by between 25 and 40 percent below 1990 levels by 2020 to avoid the worst of global warming.

Developing nations want the rich to take the lead and called for cuts of up to "at least 45 percent" -- favored by small island developing states which fear being washed off the map by rising seas.

By contrast, U.S. President Barack Obama wants to cut U.S. emissions back to 1990 levels by 2020, a cut of 14 percent from 2007 levels.

Under the U.N. panel's scenarios, developing nations would also have to at least slow the projected growth of emissions by 2020. The European Union wants a cut of 15-30 percent below the projected rising trajectory by 2020.

(With extra reporting by Gerard Wynn in London, Editing by Farah Master)

UN hopeful about climate change
BBC News 20 May 09;

The head of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change says he has seen "encouraging developments" in recent climate change negotiations.

His comments come as the first "negotiating text" for the UN's December climate change conference is published on the UNFCCC website.

Yvo de Boer said this document marked "an important point on our road".

The text collates discussion proposals from all of the nations that will take part in the December talks.

Mr de Boer said the publication of the 53-page document was the first time "real negotiating text" had been put on the the table.

He said it could "serve as a basis for governments to start drafting... an agreed outcome" to the long-awaited Copenhagen conference.

"We have an almost complete list of industrialised nations' pledges to cut emissions after 2012, so governments can see now, more clearly, where they are in comparison to each other, and can build a higher ambition on that basis," he said.

He added that the US had committed to a Copenhagen agreement and a "clean energy future".

"In response to the financial crisis, many national stimulus packages have been launched that include green economic objectives," he added.

"With only 200 days before Copenhagen, time gets tighter but the world is not standing still on climate change."