Marlowe Hood Yahoo News 2 Feb 10;
PARIS (AFP) – Fifty-five nations including the world's top carbon polluters have registered their commitments to combat global warming, the UN climate chief said late Monday.
The pledges from both industrialised and developing countries for cutting greenhouse gases up to 2020 cover nearly 80 percent of total emissions, and provide a much-needed boost to December's Copenhagen Accord.
"This represents an important invigoration of the UN climate change talks," said Yvo de Boer, Executive Secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).
"The commitment to confront climate change at the highest level is beyond doubt," he said in a statement Monday night.
But more than a month after the nearly scuttled climate deal, rich nations have yet to say when and how they will deliver emergency funds to help poor ones begin to green their economies and cope with climate impacts.
The 30 billion dollars in so-called "fast start" financing is meant to cover the period 2010 to 2012.
Also missing for now is the list of countries that have chosen to "associate" themselves with the controversial Copenhagen Accord, which fell well short of the binding and comprehensive climate treaty once hoped for.
The UN climate forum shepherding the talks simply "took note" of its provisions after several countries refused to back it in December.
The UNFCCC's 194 member nations were later invited to endorse the deal by Sunday, January 31, and to list the actions they plan for reducing their greenhouse gas emissions.
It is still not known how many countries have opted to formally back the accord.
On the action plans, there were no surprises. The United States, the European Union, Japan and other rich nations all renewed pledges made in the run-up to the climate summit.
Rapidly developing countries led by China, India, Brazil and South Africa also reiterated voluntary national plans for curbing the carbon intensity of their economies.
But registering the commitments was widely seen as a critical step in jump-starting the troubled negotiations.
"The machine has been forcefully set in motion, it's going to put some new wind in our sails," commented French Environment Minister Jean-Louis Borloo.
The Copenhagen Accord calls for limiting warming to two degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit), the threshold for dangerous impacts such as increased floods, drought and extreme weather, according to scientists.
"This is the first time that countries have ever committed to this goal. That's the good news," said Alden Meyer, a policy analyst at the Washington-based Union of Concerned Scientists.
"The bad news, of course, is that the pledges that have been put on the table to date don't put us on track to meet that goal, and would make it very difficult -- both economically and politically -- after 2020 to catch up."
The accord also commits developed countries to paying out 10 billion dollars per year to developing nations over the next three years, to be ramped up to 100 billion dollars annually by 2020.
"But it remains far from clear where the funding will come from, if it is genuinely new and additional, and how it will be allocated," said Saleemul Huq, a researcher at the International Institute for Environment and Development in London.
Many of the poor nations most vulnerable to climate change complained of being sidelined in Copenhagen, and delays in providing the financing could increase tensions as talks proceed.
Japan has taken the lead in promising some 15 billion dollars over the next three years, while the European Union has said it will stump up 10 billion.
The United States has yet to announce what share of the 30 billion it will shoulder, but analysts say it is likely to be substantially less, in the 3.5 to 4.5 billion range.
But so far none of this money has materialised.
"Looking at past experience of overseas development aid and climate funding, it may take several years to disburse even the 'fast-start' finance promised for 2010 to 2012," Huq said.
Borloo agreed that it would take some time to get the wheels turning.
"All the mechanisms have yet to be invented," he said of the 30-billion dollar fund.
"Simple bilateral aid is out of the question. We have to invent a new partnership and establish the fast-start modalities."
National climate goals set since Copenhagen
Reuters 1 Feb 10;
(Reuters) - Major greenhouse gas emitters have outlined plans for fighting climate change under a January 31 deadline set in December's "Copenhagen Accord.
Following are details of national plans published on the website of the U.N. Climate Change Secretariat on Monday:
INDUSTRIALISED NATIONS -- GREENHOUSE GAS EMISSIONS CUTS BY 2020:
UNITED STATES - "In the range of 17 percent (from 2005 levels), in conformity with anticipated U.S. energy and climate legislation." The cut is about 4 percent below 1990 levels.
EUROPEAN UNION - The 27-nation bloc will make a unilateral 20 percent cut below 1990 levels, or a 30 percent cut if other developed countries make "comparable" reductions and developing countries contribute.
RUSSIA - A cut of 15 to 25 percent below 1990 levels.
JAPAN - A 25 percent cut from 1990 levels as part of a "fair and effective international framework" involving all major economies and agreement on ambitious targets.
CANADA - A 17 percent cut from 2005 levels "to be aligned with the final economy-wide emissions target of the United States in enacted legislation."
AUSTRALIA - A unilateral cut of 5 percent below 2000 levels, deepening to a 25 percent if the world agrees an ambitious global deal. The range is 3-23 percent below 1990 levels.
CROATIA - A 5 percent cut from 1990 levels
KAZAKHSTAN - 15 percent below 1990 levels
NEW ZEALAND - A cut of between 10 and 20 percent below 1990 levels "if there is a comprehensive global agreement."
NORWAY - At least 30 percent below 1990 levels, with a 40 percent cut if major emitting parties agree a strong deal.
DEVELOPING NATIONS ACTIONS FOR 2020
CHINA - Will endeavor to cut the amount of carbon produced per unit of economic output by 40 to 45 percent from 2005 levels. This "carbon intensity" goal would let emissions keep rising, but more slowly than economic growth.
INDIA - Will endeavor to reduce the emissions intensity of gross domestic product by 20 to 25 percent in comparison to 2005 levels.
BRAZIL - Aims to cut emissions by between 36.1 and 38.9 percent below "business as usual" levels with measures such as reducing deforestation, energy efficiency and more hydropower.
SOUTH AFRICA - Will cut emissions by 34 percent below business as usual levels projected for 2020 and by 42 percent below projected 2025 levels.
INDONESIA - Reduce emissions by 26 percent by 2020 with measures including sustainable peat management, reduced deforestation and energy efficiency.
SOUTH KOREA - Cut greenhouse gas emissions by 30 percent below business as usual projections
COSTA RICA - Plans a long-term effort to become "carbon neutral" under which any industrial emissions will be offset elsewhere, for instance by planting forests.
ETHIOPIA - Actions including hydropower dams, wind farms, geothermal energy, biofuels, solar power and reforestation.
GEORGIA - To try to build a low-carbon economy while ensuring continued growth. It said, however, that the legacy of the 2008 war with Russia limited its ability to act.
ISRAEL - Will strive for a 20 percent reduction in emissions below business as usual projections. Goals include getting 10 percent of electricity generation from renewable sources.
JORDAN - Shift to renewable energies, upgrade railways, roads and ports. Goals include modernizing vehicles use by the armed forces.
MACEDONIA - Improving energy efficiency, boosting renewable energies, harmonization with EU energy laws, improved transport.
MADAGASCAR - Shift to hydropower for major cities, push for "large scale" reforestation across the island, improve agriculture, waste and transport.
MALDIVES - Achieve "carbon neutrality" by 2020.
MARSHALL ISLANDS - Cut carbon dioxide emissions by 40 percent cut below 2009 levels.
MOLDOVA - Cut emissions by "no less than 25 percent" from 1990 levels.
MOROCCO - Develop renewable energies such as wind, solar power, hydropower. Improve industrial efficiency.
REPUBLIC OF CONGO - Improved agriculture, controls on vehicles in major cities, better forestry management.
SINGAPORE - Aims for a reduction of greenhouse gas emissions by 16 percent below business as usual levels if the world agrees a strong, legally binding deal.
SIERRA LEONE - Increase conservation efforts, ensure forest cover of at least 3.4 million hectares by 2015. Develop clean energy including biofuels from sugarcane, corn, rice husks.
India reaffirms opposition to binding carbon cuts
Yahoo News 1 Feb 10;
NEW DELHI (AFP) – India reaffirmed to the United Nations that it would reject any attempt to impose legally binding climate change goals, but pledged to reduce emissions intensity.
In an endorsement of December's much-criticised Copenhagen Accord, the environment ministry in New Delhi said it had submitted plans to reduce emissions intensity by 20 to 25 percent by 2020 compared to 2005 levels.
India's proposal, first made in parliament in December ahead of the Copenhagen summit, came before a UN deadline on January 31 for nations to re-state their climate change policies.
In a statement late Saturday, India said its UN submission "clarified that its domestic mitigation actions will be entirely voluntary in nature and will not have a legally binding character."
The cut in emissions intensity means that each dollar of gross domestic product (GDP) in India -- a rapidly developing economy -- must generate 20 to 25 percent fewer emissions by 2020 compared to 2005.
India is part of a coalition including Brazil, China and South Africa which lobbied successfully at the Copenhagen meeting against any binding emissions caps.
Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh hailed the accord and said the country had emerged from the negotiations a winner.
But environmentalists condemned the failure to agree on any measures that would force countries to reduce emissions.
India -- one of the world's top-five carbon emitters in terms of volume -- has insisted that rich countries, which are responsible historically for global warming, should bear the burden of mitigating the future problem.
Only a handful of nations, including the United States, have submitted their papers ahead of the deadline to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).
US calls climate plans 'important step'
Yahoo News 2 Feb 10;
WASHINGTON (AFP) – The United States on Monday voiced optimism about fighting global warming after nations making up more than three-quarters of global emissions submitted plans to the United Nations.
Todd Stern, the US special envoy on climate change, said that the United States was "pleased" to be among 55 nations representing nearly 80 percent of emissions that met Sunday's deadline to submit plans to the United Nations.
"In supporting the accord, we are taking an important step in the global effort to combat climate change," he said.
The Copenhagen climate summit in December asked nations to endorse the accord by January 31 and to list actions they plan for reducing greenhouse gas emissions blamed for global warming.
Stern urged holdouts -- largely smaller nations -- to come forward and submit plans to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).
The Copenhagen accord brought about pledges for 30 billion dollars in short-term financing for poor nations to cope with climate change.
But the controversial agreement fell well short of the binding and comprehensive climate treaty once hoped for.
China's Wen Seeks Binding Climate Deal In Mexico
Chris Buckley, PlanetArk 2 Feb 10;
BEIJING - China backs a climate change accord struck at a contentious summit late last year and wants a binding global agreement from talks culminating in Mexico later this year, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao has said.
The Chinese leader endorsed the "Copenhagen Accord" in letters on January 29 to the United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and Danish Lars Lokke Rasmussen, whose country hosted the rancorous summit that produced the controversial, last-minute document on fighting global warming, the official Chinese Xinhua news agency reported on Monday.
Since then, China and over other 50 nations have outlined their plans for reducing greenhouse gases and addressing climate change under a January 31 deadline, aiming to set in motion negotiations seeking a full pact in Mexico late in 2010.
In its submission, China repeated what it calls a voluntary domestic goal to cut the amount of the main greenhouse gas, carbon dioxide, produced for every unit of economic output by 40 to 45 percent by 2020, compared to levels in 2005.
This "carbon intensity" goal would let China's greenhouse gas emissions keep rising, but more slowly than economic growth.
But Beijing's official submission did not mention the Copenhagen Accord, which was thrashed out after sometimes bitter negotiations in which China, the world's biggest emitter of greenhouse gases from human activity, was accused by some negotiators of frustrating stronger agreement.
The U.N. had asked all to take sides on the Accord by January 31.
Now Premier Wen has publicly backed the Accord, and said his country wants a binding deal to emerge in Mexico -- a goal that many observers say will be difficult to achieve.
"(Wen) stated that China positively assesses and supports the Copenhagen Accord," said the Xinhua report, citing his letters to Ban and Rasmussen.
China wants the negotiations culminating in Mexico to "reach a comprehensive, effective and binding outcome," the report cited Wen as saying.
But Wen stressed that outcome should be bound to a UN convention and to the Kyoto Protocol, the treaty governing countries' duties to fight global warming that runs until the end of 2012.
Those agreements say that developing countries, including China, should not shoulder the same absolute goals to cut greenhouse emissions that apply to rich countries.
As the world's biggest emitter, China has faced growing pressure from developed countries and some poor ones to set firmer and deeper goals to curb its greenhouse gases.
China says that its emissions have historically been much lower than the developed world's, and its emissions per capita are still much lower than those of wealthy societies.
(Editing by Alister Doyle)
