Matthias Williams, PlanetArk 10 Mar 10;
China and India joined almost all other major greenhouse gas emitters Tuesday in signing up to the climate accord struck in Copenhagen, boosting a deal strongly favored by the United States.
More than 100 nations have now endorsed the Copenhagen Accord, a non-binding agreement reached after two weeks of tortuous wrangling at a 194-nation summit in December.
The accord plans $100 billion a year in climate aid for developing nations from 2020 and seeks to limit global warming to below 2 degrees Celsius (3.6F) above pre-industrial times, but produced no timetable of emission limits to reach that goal.
Indian Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh told parliament that India would also let its name join the list of "associated" countries on the three-page document.
"This will strengthen our negotiating position on climate change," Ramesh said.
Chinese negotiator Su Wei wrote a one-sentence letter to the U.N. Climate Change Secretariat in Bonn saying that it could "proceed to include China in the list."
China, the United States, the European Union, Russia and India are the main emitters of the greenhouse gases that are blamed for global warming -- mostly carbon dioxide from burning fossil fuels. Only Russia has yet to associate with the deal.
The endorsements are a small boost for the Accord, which environmentalists say was a bare-minimum outcome from a summit that many nations hoped would end with a broad, legally binding pact to fight climate change.
But they offer little indication of how, or when, rich and poor nations might agree on a binding mechanism for combating climate changes that scientists say will multiply droughts, floods, storms and heatwaves, and dramatically raise sea levels.
China and India have preferred since Copenhagen to stress the supremacy of the 1992 U.N. Climate Convention, agreed in Kyoto, which puts the emphasis on rich nations cutting emissions.
LUKEWARM
Ramesh reiterated that India's support for Copenhagen was lukewarm.
"The Accord is a political document. It is not a template for outcomes," he said, adding that it could not supplant years of U.N.-led talks meant to yield a new, binding treaty.
In contrast, the United States, which wants to bind the major developing economies such as China and India into commitments to limit emissions, has said that the Accord could guide talks on a new treaty.
It has urged "further formalization of the Accord" at the next major U.N. climate meeting at the end of 2010 in Mexico.
Progress on a new treaty has stalled, partly because the U.S. Senate has yet to decide whether to cap greenhouse gas emissions. President Barack Obama wants a cut of 17 percent from 2005 levels by 2020, or about 4 percent below 1990 levels.
Few countries want to commit to a costly shift to renewable energies unless Washington joins in. Skeptics are questioning the 2007 conclusions by a U.N. panel of scientists that blamed mankind for global warming after errors in the report.
At the end of the Copenhagen summit, the BASIC group of nations -- China, India, South Africa and Brazil -- joined the United States, the European Union and a small number of other countries in agreeing to the Accord.
But the text was only "noted" by the summit as a whole after objections from a few developing nations such as Sudan, Ecuador and Venezuela. In a compromise, it was decided nations wishing to "associate" with it would be listed at the top of the text.
(Editing by Kevin Liffey)
Factbox: China and India endorse Copenhagen climate plan
Reuters 9 Mar 10;
(Reuters) - China and India signed up to the Copenhagen Accord for fighting climate change on Tuesday, joining almost all other major greenhouse gas emitters in endorsing the non-binding pact.
Russia is the largest greenhouse gas emitter yet to make clear if it wants to be associated with the deal, reached at a summit in December, which has strong backing from the United States.
The accord sets a goal of limiting a rise in world temperatures to less than 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 F), but does not set out how to achieve the target. Rich nations also aim to give $100 billion a year in climate aid from 2020.
The number of backers has risen to just over 100 of 194 member states. Of these, more than 60 have also issued domestic goals for reining in climate change by 2020. A U.N. analysis indicates these pledges will only be sufficient to limit global warming to 3 degrees Celsius (5.4F).
Following are details of national plans published on the website of the U.N. Climate Change Secretariat -- an asterisk (*) shows nations wanting to be listed at the top of the text.
INDUSTRIALISED NATIONS -- EMISSIONS CUTS BY 2020 (FROM 1990
LEVELS UNLESS STATED)
* UNITED STATES - 17 percent from 2005 levels, or 4 percent from 1990 levels.
* EUROPEAN UNION (27 nations) - 20 percent, or 30 percent if others act.
RUSSIA - 15 to 25 percent.
* JAPAN - 25 percent as part of a "fair and effective international framework."
* CANADA - 17 percent from 2005 levels, matching U.S. goal.
* AUSTRALIA - 5 percent below 2000 levels, 25 percent if there is an ambitious global deal. The range is 3-23 percent below 1990.
* BELARUS - 5 to 10 percent, on condition of access to carbon trading and new technologies.
* CROATIA - 5 percent.
* KAZAKHSTAN - 15 percent.
* NEW ZEALAND - 10 to 20 percent "if there is a comprehensive global agreement."
* NORWAY - 30 percent, or 40 if there is an ambitious deal.
* ICELAND - 30 percent in a joint effort with the EU.
* LIECHTENSTEIN - 20 percent, or 30 percent if others act.
* MONACO - 30 percent; aims to be carbon neutral by 2050.
DEVELOPING NATIONS' ACTIONS FOR 2020
* CHINA - Aims 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 - Aims to reduce the emissions intensity of gross domestic product by 20 to 25 percent from 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 - With the right international aid, South Africa says its emissions could peak between 2020-25, plateau for a decade and then decline in absolute terms from about 2035.
* INDONESIA - Aims to reduce emissions by 26 percent by 2020 with measures including sustainable peat management, reduced deforestation, and energy efficiency.
* MEXICO - Aims to cut greenhouse gases by up to 30 percent below "business as usual." A climate change programme from 2009-12 will also avert 51 million tonnes of carbon emissions.
* SOUTH KOREA - Aims to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 30 percent below "business as usual" projections.
OTHERS' PLEDGES
* ARMENIA - Increase renewable energy output, modernize power plants, restore forests.
* BENIN - Develop public transport in Cotonou, better forest management, methane recovery from waste in big cities.
* BHUTAN - Already absorbs more carbon in vegetation than it emits from burning fossil fuels; plans to stay that way.
* BOTSWANA - Shift to gas from coal. Nuclear power, renewables, biomass and carbon capture also among options.
* CONGO - Improve agriculture, limit vehicles in major cities, better forestry management.
* COSTA RICA - A long-term effort to become "carbon neutral" under which any industrial emissions will be offset elsewhere, for instance by planting forests.
* ETHIOPIA - More hydropower dams, wind farms, geothermal energy, biofuels and reforestation.
* GABON - Increase forestry, bolster clean energy
* GEORGIA - Try to build a low-carbon economy while ensuring continued growth.
* GHANA - Switch from oil to natural gas in electricity generation, build more hydropower dams, raise the share of renewable energy to 10-20 percent of electricity by 2020.
* ISRAEL - Strive for a 20 percent cut in emissions below "business as usual" projections. Goals include getting 10 percent of electricity generation from renewable sources.
* IVORY COAST - Shift to renewable energies, better forest management and farming, improved pollution monitoring.
* JORDAN - Shift to renewable energies, upgrade railways, roads and ports. Goals include modernizing military equipment.
* MACEDONIA - Improve energy efficiency, boost renewable energies, harmonize with EU energy laws.
* MADAGASCAR - Shift to hydropower for major cities, push for "large scale" reforestation across the island, improve agriculture, waste management and transport.
* MALDIVES - Achieve "carbon neutrality" by 2020.
* MARSHALL ISLANDS - Cut carbon dioxide emissions by 40 percent below 2009 levels.
* MAURITANIA - Raise forest cover to 9 percent by 2050 from 3.2 percent in 2009, boost clean energy.
* MOLDOVA - Cut emissions by "no less than 25 percent" from 1990 levels.
* MONGOLIA - Examining large-scale solar power in the Gobi desert, wind and hydropower. Improve use of coal.
* MOROCCO - Develop renewable energies such as wind, solar power, hydropower. Improve industrial efficiency.
* PAPUA NEW GUINEA - At least halve emissions per unit of economic output by 2030; become carbon neutral by 2050.
* SIERRA LEONE - Set up a National Secretariat for Climate Change, create 12 protected areas by 2015, protect forests.
* SINGAPORE - Reduce 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 or rice husks.
TOGO - Raise forested area to 30 percent of the country by 2050 from 7 percent in 2005; improve energy efficiency.
Other nations asking to be associated, without outlining 2020 targets: Albania, the Bahamas, Bangladesh, Bosnia, Cambodia, Central African Republic, Chile, Colombia, Democratic Republic of Congo, Djibouti, Fiji, Guatemala, Guyana, Kiribati, Laos, Lesotho, Malawi, Mali, Montenegro, Namibia, Nepal, Palau, Panama, Peru, Rwanda, Samoa, San Marino, Senegal, Serbia, Tanzania, Trinidad and Tobago, Tunisia, United Arab Emirates, Uruguay.
Ecuador, Kuwait and Nauru reject association. The Philippines will support the Accord if developed nations make deep and early cuts.
(Compiled by Alister Doyle in Oslo; Editing by Kevin Liffey)
