'Ice broken' at climate meet, but progress glacial

Yahoo News 5 May 10;

BONN (AFP) - – The highest octane political gathering on climate since the Copenhagen summit collapsed into near failure has helped restore trust but delivered no big breakthroughs, environment ministers said Tuesday.

"The ice is broken," Germany's Norbert Roettgen told journalists as the two-and-a-half day brainstorming session outside Bonn ended.

"This meeting was a very important contribution to building trust and confidence."

Side-stepping some of the major political land mines that derailed talks in the Danish capital, ministers and negotiators from 45 countries zeroed in on what will become the building blocks of any future global climate deal.

These include mechanisms for the measuring, reporting and verification of pledges to cut greenhouse gases, the disbursement of short-term financing to poor countries bracing for the climate change impacts, and figuring out the most effective way to halt deforestation.

"We have reached consensus on forest protection, and there are good perspectives for consensus on technology transfer -- a result is possible, at least in Cancun," Roettgen said, referring to a UN climate conference late November in the Mexican resort town.

Roettgen also unveiled an initiative from Germany and South Africa to create a kind of exchange platform between rich and developing countries for sustainable development initiatives.

Ten countries -- including the United States, Costa Rica, Spain and Papua New Guinea -- immediately embraced the idea, he said.

After the huge disappointment of Copenhagen, ministers here trod a fine line between aiming too high or too low for Cancun and beyond.

Asked whether a full treaty was possible in Mexico, Europe's Commissioner for Climate Action Connie Hedegaard replied: "Not probable."

"It is extremely important that we have a set of concrete decisions coming out of Cancun. But we need to look at the process realistically," she told journalists.

A highly polarised debate on what kind of legally binding treaty might emerge from the troubled UN talks has given way instead to the "building blocks" approach.

"Copenhagen was a reality check," said Jose Romero, Switzerland's top climate negotiator and a veteran of UN climate talks.

"We are going to focus on substance, we want consensus on the substantive measures before talking about the agreement itself," he told AFP.

UN climate chief Yvo De Boer said a "good outcome" in Cancun would be "an operational architecture on climate change."

But positive thinking and incremental progress will only go so far in bridging major disagreements among nations on how to divvy up the task of slashing greenhouse gases and who will pay for it, the necessary core of any climate deal.

Voluntary emissions pledges currently registered in the Copenhagen Accord put Earth on track for temperature increases of 3.5 to 4.0 degree Celsius (6.3 to 7.2 degrees Fahrenheit), far above the 2.0 C threshold for dangerous warming.

The so-called Petersberg Climate Dialogue -- named for site of the talks, near Bonn -- was also haunted by stalled legislation in the United States, said Martin Kaiser, climate policy director for Greenpeace International.

"The US pledges in the Copenhagen Accord on emissions reductions depend on national legislation, which is stalled," he said.

"So basically that means they have not pledged anything yet -- that is the biggest problem we have."

Developing countries have also expressed skepticism and impatience on promises for financing.

The accord earmarks 30 billion dollars in "fast track" money before the end of 2012, to be scaled up to 100 billion per year by 2020.

But delays in releasing the emergency funds and concerns about where the long-term financing will come from have cast a long shadow over these commitments.

"It is widely recognised that finance is the key to opening the next door," said Romero.

Germany, Mexico call climate meeting helpful
Verena Schmitt-roschmann, Asssociated Press Yahoo News 4 May 10;

KOENIGSWINTER, Germany – Some 40 nations agreed Tuesday on taking individual steps to fight global warming, but made little progress during a three-day meeting near Bonn toward drafting a new international climate change treaty.

Germany and Mexico, which co-hosted the meeting of environments ministers, said it had been an important step on the road to the next major U.N. climate conference in Cancun, Mexico, in December — although the most difficult issues remain unresolved.

"I would call this meeting very fruitful," Mexican Environment Minister Juan Elvira said in his closing remarks. "We want to use this momentum to make the conference in Cancun a success." Mexico plans several more rounds of formal and informal talks before the conference.

The meeting made headway on several sticking points, including saving forests and transferring climate technology from rich to poor countries, said Germany's environment minister, Norbert Roettgen. A final agreement on these topics is now within reach, he said.

"There is movement, no one can deny that," Roettgen said.

However, the toughest issues — cutting greenhouse gases, creating a system of financial aid from rich to poor countries, and measuring both — still need consideration.

At the meeting, ministers specifically discussed individual projects that could help reduce emissions or help cope with the effects of climate change, such as drought, flooding or heavy storms.

South Korea, for example, presented its Global Green Growth Institute, which will give developing nations advice on low carbon growth, the German minister said, while the U.S. and India are working on a project to make appliances more efficient.

France and Norway have a plan to get both rich and poor nations involved in stopping deforestation, and Germany wants to allocate euro350 million ($458 million) on forests from the euro1.2 billion it pledged for fast action, Roettgen said.

But environmental groups warned the global climate talks were still deeply troubled after the latest U.N. conference in Copenhagen last December, where a deep rift showed between industrialized nations and developing countries.

"Fundamentally, the difficult situation we had in Copenhagen has not changed," Greenpeace climate specialist Martin Kaiser said.

The Copenhagen conference was seen as a major disappointment, failing to reach a new legally binding treaty after two years of U.N.-sponsored negotiations.

Instead, it ended with a political declaration called the Copenhagen Accord, brokered at the last minute by President Barack Obama, but many of the 190 or so countries that attended were unhappy with it and some dismissed it outright.

Greenpeace warned that, until the U.S. has a climate law in place, real progress on drafting a new treaty will be tough.

"President Obama's climate policies have failed, and therefore there is no basis for an ambitious international treaty that could bring India and China on board," Kaiser said.

Outgoing U.N. climate chief Yvo de Boer has said he does not expect a comprehensive international treaty to be finalized this year in Cancun.

Parts of a treaty — such as deals on forests or technology transfers — might be agreed by then, though, Roettgen said.

De Boer said this week's meeting showed "a very strong desire of ministers to reinvigorate the process."

He urged ministers to stay involved instead of leaving negotiations to experts.