U.S., Britain say global climate deal possible

Gerard Wynn, Reuters 18 Oct 09;

LONDON (Reuters) - The world can still agree a deal in December to curb greenhouse gas emissions and prepare for a warmer world, co-chairs of a meeting of major polluters in London -- Britain and the United States -- said on Sunday.

Skeptics argue a U.N. December deadline is now too tight as negotiators have so far failed to agree targets to cut greenhouse gas emissions and funds to help developing countries prepare for more extreme weather and rising seas.

But Britain and the United States pointed to moves from both developed and developing countries including India, Indonesia, Japan and China.

"You can look at that and conclude, as I do, there's a deal to be had," said Washington's top climate envoy Todd Stern, at the start of the October 18-19 talks among major polluters.

"I think a deal is quite possible. There are difficulties, but on the other hand not that many elements to put together a basic deal," he said, adding he was still aiming for December.

The London meeting is the latest in a series of U.S.-initiated "major economies forum" (MEF) sessions, meant to support U.N. talks to agree a new pact to extend or replace the existing Kyoto Protocol at a December 7-18 meeting in Copenhagen.

Among proposed action, last month Indonesia said it would cut greenhouse gases by a quarter compared with current trends by 2020. Chinese premier Hu Jintao said Beijing would curb carbon emissions growth.

Japan's new government committed to a far more ambitious climate target than the previous administration.

"There are good straws in the wind," British energy and climate secretary Ed Miliband told the BBC on Sunday.

But Miliband also pointed to the two biggest obstacles to a deal -- agreeing targets to cut greenhouse gas emissions by rich nations by 2020, and funds to help developing countries.

"There are also some big obstacles that have to be overcome. We need a (emissions target) number from the United States."

"NO MYSTERY"

Co-chair of the London meeting, Stern told reporters the U.S. 2020 emissions target was "pretty clear," and added a deal would "undoubtedly" include numbers on climate finance for developing countries.

But he could not confirm that the United States would offer concrete numbers for either in Copenhagen.

Under a domestic legislative process, the U.S. House of Representatives had approved a 2020 target to curb U.S. greenhouse gas emissions by 17 percent compared with 2005 levels, and the Senate was considering 20 percent, he said.

U.S. President Barack Obama had previously supported 14 percent, said Stern, who acknowledged his country had to wait for Congress to establish a firm position.

"The range we're talking about is pretty clear but I'm not going to speculate, I am hopeful that things move pretty far down the track, we'll just have to see where we are when December comes around. It isn't a huge big mystery, the number."

Analysts doubt Obama will sign a domestic bill by December. The U.S. offer on climate finance was also "wrapped up" in the domestic climate bill process, Stern said.

Indian environment minister Jairam Ramesh told Reuters on Friday a deal may miss the December deadline by several months. The chair of a U.N. panel of climate scientists, Rajendra Pachauri, said last week the world had the option of meeting again in mid-2010.

(Additional reporting by Muriel Boselli in Paris; Editing by Janet Lawrence)

World economies hold climate talks in London
Yahoo News 18 Oct 09;

LONDON (AFP) – Representatives of the world's biggest carbon polluters began two days of informal talks in London on Sunday to map out common ground 50 days before a key UN climate conference in Copenhagen.

The 17 powers that make up the so-called Major Economies Forum (MEF), along with developing nations and UN representatives, will try to iron out some of their differences before the crunch summit in December.

"We represent about 90 percent of global emissions, so if we can get a way forward and narrow some of the differences between the... countries that represent the lion's share of the problem, then it might make those UN talks easier," British Energy and Climate Change Secretary Ed Miliband told the BBC.

He said the Copenhagen talks, when nations will try to agree a new global climate treaty to replace the Kyoto Protocol which expires in 2012, were unlikely to succeed if left to the summit itself.

"The truth is that if this is left to the negotiators in the formal negotiations, I think we'll fail," he said.

The MEF was launched by US President Barack Obama earlier this year on the back of an initiative by his predecessor, George W. Bush, to speed up the search for common ground among the most polluting world economies.

It then intends to hand this consensus for approval by the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), the sprawling 192-nation global arena.

The London talks will focus on emissions cuts, the protection of forests and climate finance -- British Prime Minister Gordon Brown has said 100 billion dollars a year is needed to help developing countries tackle climate change.

Brown will address the MEF meeting on Monday and warn of the consequences of failing to reach a deal in December, but Miliband highlighted recent shifts in policy by India and China among other countries.

India said last month it was ready to set itself non-binding targets for cutting carbon emissions, while China said it would curb the growth of its emissions by a "notable margin" by 2020, although it did not specify further.

The US special envoy for climate change, Todd Stern, told British television on Saturday that developing economies must boost their efforts, warning it was "certainly possible" that no deal would be agreed in Copenhagen.

"What we need to have happen is for China and India and Brazil and South Africa and others to be willing to take what they're doing, boost it up some, and then be willing to put it into an international agreement," he said.

But climate campaigners Friends of the Earth said it was up to the rich countries in the MEF to "face up to their legal and moral responsibility by agreeing to cut their emissions first and fastest".

Miliband said: "I hope everyone is feeling the pressure at the moment because we've all got to respond to make the deal happen."

The MEF comprises Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, the European Union, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, South Korea, Mexico, Russia, South Africa, Britain, and United States.

Meanwhile, climate activists gathered for a second day at one of Britain's biggest coal-fired power stations, which they want to shut down in protest against the huge levels of carbon emissions it produces.

At least 52 people have been arrested during the action at the Ratcliffe-on-Soar power station near Nottingham, central England, which is owned by German energy giant E.ON.

Biggest economies try again to strike climate deal
Robert Barr, Associated Press Yahoo News 18 Oct 09;

LONDON – Representatives of the world's 17 biggest and most polluting nations were holding talks Sunday to search for a breakthrough on financing efforts to contain climate change and reduce gas emissions causing global warming.

Pressure has been mounting for the United States to finalize its position before a decisive December conference in Denmark meant to cap two years of negotiations on a global climate change treaty.

"With only 50 more days to go before the final talks at Copenhagen, we have to up our game. Britain is determined to throw everything at this because the stakes are so high," British Environment Minister Ed Miliband said in a statement released Sunday.

Earlier Miliband had said it was "important that the U.S. makes as much progress as possible" at the two-day meeting of the Major Economies Forum.

The Obama administration said it was tied to action by U.S. Congress, where climate bills were making their slow way toward legislation — an argument which cut little ice with other negotiators.

"The rich countries of the Major Economies Forum must urgently put new money on the table to ensure the developing world can grow cleanly and adapt to the effects of climate change, which are already putting millions of lives at risk," said Asad Rehman of Friends of the Earth.

Miliband said there had been some progress, pointing to recent commitments by Japan and China aimed at reducing emissions.

"There are some good straws in the wind, but there are also some big obstacles to overcome," Miliband told the BBC, speaking ahead of the talks opening.

He insisted that the meeting in London could tackle differences between developed and developing nations outside the formal U.N. negotiating process.

"The truth is if this is left to the negotiators ... I think we'll fail," Miliband said. "If we can get a way forward, narrow some of the differences between the countries which represent the lion's share of the problem, then it might make those U.N. talks a bit easier."

Sweden's environment minister Andreas Carlgren, representing the European Union, will hold separate talks with representatives from China and India during the meeting, his spokesman Lennart Boden said.

"All the important components that need solving ahead of Copenhagen will be up for discussion here," Boden said. "By tomorrow afternoon we should know if there have been any changes to positions."

One further negotiating session is set for November in Barcelona, Spain.

But pessimism was mounting that a deal can be struck without policy changes at the highest level.

"In recent months, the prospects that states will actually agree to anything in Copenhagen are starting to look worse and worse," Rajendra Pachauri, head of the U.N. scientific panel studying climate change, wrote in a Friday post on the Newsweek Web site.

President Barack Obama initiated the Major Economies Forum earlier this year as an informal caucus to quietly deal with the toughest problems. Participants agree to keep the talks confidential.

A key issue is helping poor countries adapt to changes in the earth's climate that threaten to flood coastal regions, make farming unpredictable and spread diseases. They also need funds and technologies to develop their economies without overly increasing pollution.

Estimates range in the hundreds of billions of dollars needed every year, but a formula for raising, administering and distributing the funds has proved elusive.

Rapidly growing nations like India, China, Brazil and Mexico have agreed to draw up national strategies for slowing the growth of greenhouse gas emissions, but resist making those limits binding and subject to international monitoring in a treaty.

Industrial countries agree to reduce their own emissions, but not to the levels scientists say are required to avert climate catastrophes.

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Associated Press Writer Malin Rising in Stockholm, Sweden, contributed to this report