Louis Charbonneau, Reuters 26 Oct 09;
UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The United Nations on Monday lowered expectations for clinching a legally binding agreement at a U.N. climate change summit in Copenhagen in December, saying it might take longer to secure a final deal.
For months Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and other top officials at the United Nations have been urging industrialized and developing nations to overcome their differences so they can "seal the deal" and get a binding agreement in Copenhagen.
But recently U.N. officials and diplomats have said privately that it is unlikely a legally binding deal on reducing greenhouse gas emissions will be clinched at the Copenhagen summit. They have suggested that the most that could be expected was a nonbinding political declaration.
Ban's climate adviser Janos Pasztor made clear that the secretary-general was planning for "post-Copenhagen" talks.
He said Ban believes we must "continue to aim for an ambitious politically binding agreement in Copenhagen that would chart the way for future post-Copenhagen negotiations that lead to a legally binding global agreement."
"Climate change is not going to be resolved in Copenhagen in the next few weeks," Pasztor said. "We always knew that. It's a long-term problem that will be with us for many years, if not decades, to come. So Copenhagen has to be a milestone."
Ban told a gathering of business leaders in Seattle that he still wanted a strong result in Copenhagen. "We will do our best and try to have a substantive agreement," he said.
"After Copenhagen we may not expect ... to agree on all elements," he said. "But we should have a broad agreement."
U.S. ROLE CRUCIAL IN GLOBAL CLIMATE TALKS
Pasztor expressed concern about a new poll showing that the U.S. public was not convinced that the threat posed by global warming was so dire, despite mounting scientific evidence that carbon emissions are harming the climate and the planet.
Ban has repeatedly voiced his concerns about the United States, which had resisted mandatory carbon emissions limits under former President George W. Bush.
Bush's successor, Barack Obama, has reversed U.S. policy on climate change, voicing support for mandatory emission limits and a carbon emission limit trading scheme.
But draft U.S. legislation on climate change is still not ready for approval, and diplomats and U.N. officials say that adoption of the new U.S. legislation will be crucial for securing a global agreement on fighting global warming.
Ban said in Seattle that he was "very encouraged by the strong commitment of the Obama administration."
"The (U.S.) domestic legislation may not be specific enough but it can have a huge impact," he added.
Danish Prime Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen warned international parliamentarians in Copenhagen on Saturday that climate talks have been "painfully slow," saying that they may fail to reach an ambitious agreement in time.
Rasmussen said crucial questions remained unresolved, including the commitment of industrialized nations to mid-term targets to reduce emissions and developing countries' commitments to national steps to curb emissions growth.
(Additional reporting by Laura Myers in Seattle; Editing by Philip Barbara)
Ban lays out criteria for successful Copenhagen gathering on climate change
UNEP 26 Oct 09;
New York, 26 October 2009 - As just over one month remains before nations converge in Copenhagen to 'seal the deal' on a new climate change agreement, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has laid out his four benchmarks for success at the negotiations in the Danish capital.
Firstly, he wrote in an opinion piece in the New York Times published yesterday, every country - developed and developing - must do all it can to slash emissions from all sources, including deforestation and shipping.
"A successful deal must strengthen the world's ability to cope with an already changing climate," Mr. Ban added, stressing that "support for adaptation is not only an ethical imperative; it is a smart investment in a more stable, secure world."
Thirdly, any deal must be backed by funding to allow poorer countries to transition to a low-carbon economy.
Lastly, the Secretary-General wrote, nations must agree on an equitable global governance structure. "All countries must have a voice in how resources are deployed and managed. That is how trust will be built."
Despite the gridlock at the last round of climate change negotiations held in Bangkok, Thailand, earlier this month, "the elements of a deal are on the table," he underscored.
All that is needed to put them in place is political will, Mr. Ban said. "We need to step back from narrow national interest and engage in frank and constructive discussion in a spirit of global common cause."
The leadership of the United States in this endeavour, he said, is vital, noting that he is encouraged by last week's bipartisan initiative in the US Senate.
"We cannot afford another period where the United States stands on the sidelines," Mr. Ban emphasized, adding that an "indecisive or insufficiently engaged" US will result in unnecessary and unaffordable delays in tackling global warming.
With the last round of negotiations before the start of the Copenhagen conference kicking off next week in Barcelona, Spain, "we are now at a rather critical juncture," Janos Pasztor, Director of the Secretary-General's Climate Change Support Team, told reporters today in New York.
There is a flurry of activity in the world's capitals, with this uptick in activity expected to continue during the final stretch before the December summit, he said. "This is a good development as it is only governments who can make the deal and bring us success in Copenhagen."
When leaders assemble in Denmark, they have the ability to "deliver an agreement on a range of fast-track implementation measures for which credible resources are needed and which governments need to make available," Mr. Pasztor stated.
The Secretary-General, he said, is serving as a "neutral broker" among all 192 UN Member States, pressing for an ambitious multilateral deal to ensure that global temperature increases remain within safe levels.
