Reuters 14 Dec 09;
COPENHAGEN (Reuters) - More than 190 countries are meeting in Copenhagen to agree the outlines of a new global deal to combat climate change, hoping to seal a full treaty next year to succeed the Kyoto Protocol.
Following are key issues yet to be agreed, and some areas of possible agreement if draft texts are approved.
ONE TREATY OR TWO?
* No agreement yet on whether to extend Kyoto and add extra national commitments under a separate pact, or end Kyoto and agree one new treaty which specifies actions by most countries
* Kyoto limits the emissions of nearly 40 industrialized countries from 2008-2012, but excludes the United States, the world's second biggest carbon emitter
* A new climate deal should include climate action from many more countries, most negotiators agree
LONG-TERM GOAL
* No agreement yet on a long-term goal to avoid dangerous climate change
* Developing nations prefer a goal to limit overall warming to 2 degrees Celsius rather than a target to halve global greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 -- which they are concerned may limit their economic growth if rich nations do not take enough of the burden.
* A U.N.-drafted text suggests at least a halving of emissions by 2050. Countries have not voted on that text yet
MID-TERM RICH NATION EMISSIONS CUTS
* No agreement yet on how far individual rich countries should cut their emissions by 2020 versus 1990 levels
* Industrialized nations have proposed bids which so far add up to cuts of about 14-18 percent
* Developing nations including China are insisting on cuts of at least 40 percent
* A U.N.-draft text suggests rich countries collectively cut emissions by at least 25-40 percent by 2020
CLIMATE ACTION BY DEVELOPING NATIONS
* No agreement yet on how far poorer countries should commit to targets to curb growth in greenhouse gases
* Developed countries want poorer countries to "stand behind" their targets through some kind of international inspection, which developing nations reject
FINANCE
* No agreement yet on how much rich nations should pay developing nations in the short or medium term to help them fight climate change
* Rich nations have suggested about $10 billion per year from 2010-2012 which China and African nations have rejected as not enough
* Developing nations have suggested figures of at least mid-term $200-$300 billion climate aid annually by 2020, compared with a European Union proposal of $150 billion
EXCLUDED SECTORS, LOOPHOLES
* No agreement on whether to include aviation and shipping, and make it mandatory to include farming and forestry in targets
* Kyoto excludes greenhouse gases from aviation and shipping, responsible for at least 5 percent of global emissions
* Under Kyoto it is voluntary for industrialized countries to include in their targets emissions from land use, including deforestation and farming
* Combined, farms and deforestation account for a third of global greenhouse gases
ROLE OF CARBON MARKETS
* No agreement yet on how to scale up carbon finance, where rich nations pay for emissions cuts in developing countries through trade in carbon offsets
* No agreement on how to streamline an existing scheme under Kyoto's clean development mechanism, which deployed $6.5 billion last year in developing nations. The European Union wants the scheme to invest tens of billions annually by 2020
* No agreement on whether to allow emissions cuts from new sectors to qualify for carbon offsets, including nuclear power, carbon capture and storage and conserving forests
* A draft text proposed a larger scheme whereby whole sectors such as power generation could earn carbon credits, instead of individual projects such as wind farms
FORESTRY
* Mounting agreement on rewarding tropical countries which slow deforestation under a new deal
* The latest draft text addressed key issues on looking after the interests of indigenous people but activists complain that has been moved out of a legally binding part of the text
* Another issue is whether to allow plantations to earn carbon offsets if they are planted on former virgin forest land
(Reporting by Gerard Wynn, Editing by Dominic Evans)
