Yahoo News 2 Dec 10;
MEXICO CITY (AFP) – Mexico's environment minister said Thursday that a UN climate conference in Cancun would likely reach at least two accords, rejecting criticism from Brazil's president that it would be inconclusive.
Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said Wednesday that the two-week talks on climate change "won't result in anything" because no major leaders were attending, and that pledges to finance the fight against deforestation in Latin America, Asia and Africa were "nebulous."
"That's his (Lula's) point of view, but we're carefully carrying out the negotiating process and we believe that, faced with natural disasters, it's urgent to reach deals," said Rafael Elvira Quesada on Televisa channel Thursday.
At least two accords were expected to be reached during the November 29 to December 10 summit in Cancun, Elvira said.
"Basically, what we're expecting are two (accords): one for adaptation to climate change and the protection of woods and tropical forests, and the other for a financing fund," he said.
The meeting aims to advance efforts towards a post-2012 climate treaty after the near-disaster of the December 2009 Copenhagen summit.
India hopes climate auditing scheme will get U.S. nod
* U.S. backing for climate reporting plan crucial -India
* Minister says India plan could put climate talks back on track
* But says Cancun talks overshadowed by Japan's Kyoto comments
Krittivas Mukherjee Reuters 2 Dec 10;
NEW DELHI, Dec 2 (Reuters) - An Indian proposal on how rich and poor nations report their actions to fight global warming could help get the United States on board for a broad agreement on climate change, India's environment minister said on Thursday.
Negotiators at Nov. 29 to Dec. 10 U.N. climate talks in Mexico are trying to define the climate actions required of developed and emerging economies, to overcome a major area of dispute in sharing the burden of carbon emissions cuts.
Stalling progress is the question how rich and poor countries report their cuts and actions, and whether this controversial issue also called measurement, reporting and verification (MRV) should be subject to international review.
In Mexico, India is proposing all countries, rich and poor, that contribute more than 1 percent of global greenhouse gases should report their steps to the United Nations every three years. Others can report their actions every six years.
Actions of developing countries will be voluntary and failure to meet any domestic target non punitive, the proposal says.
Under the United Nations' existing Kyoto Protocol, only rich countries have to meet binding emissions targets and report actions regularly. But developed nations led by the United States, which never ratified Kyoto, want emerging economies such as China and India to take on a greater share of climate actions.
That's because developing nations now emit more than half of mankind's greenhouse gas emissions and that portion is growing quickly. China has already passed the United States as the world's top carbon polluter.
Emerging nations say they will accept international consultation and analysis (ICA) of their emissions actions, but not anything equal to the standards expected of rich economies. They blame the rich for much of the greenhouse pollution pumped into the atmosphere over the past two centuries.
BREAKING THE LOGJAM
Ramesh told Reuters that the Indian MRV/ICA proposal should help get the United States, a potential provider of global green technology, onboard for any meaningful progress in the Mexico talks.
"Without the ICA, the United States is not going to come on board and we have to bring the U.S. on board," he said in an interview.
"It is a political proposal not a negotiating proposal. It is basically meant to break the logjam and it is basically meant to bring the U.S. in because without some progress in MRV/ICA the U.S. is not going to come on board." (For a factbox on key MRV proposals in Mexico, please click [ID:nLDE6AT268])
Ramesh said progress on reporting climate actions by all nations also depended on "some quid pro quo" from the United States particularly on sharing green technology and the Europeans on the second commitment period for the Kyoto Protocol.
"We have a 10-point proposal for MRV/ICA and a 10-point proposal for technology cooperation. Initial reaction seems to be positive, but obviously it will require more consultations."
Fraught climate negotiations last year failed to agree on a binding treaty and climaxed in a bitter meeting in Copenhagen, which produced a vague and non-binding accord that later recorded the emissions pledges of many countries.
Fearing deadlock in efforts to reach a binding pact by late next year, governments are pushing in Mexico for broad agreement on less contentious objectives: a fund for climate action, a scheme to protect carbon-absorbing rainforests, and policies to share clean-energy technology with poorer nations.
MEASURING SUCCESS
Ramesh said talks at the Mexican beach resort of Cancun were "an historic opportunity" of clinching a pact on saving and expanding forests.
"Some countries are still opposed to it but my suggestion is we should have a plurilateral agreement on forestry."
For Ramesh, the success of Cancun talks depended on:
* Agreeing a set of operational guidelines for MRV/ICA and technology cooperation.
* Operational guidelines for the climate Green Fund and guidelines for climate adaptation for developing countries.
* Clinching a forestry agreement.
But the minister said there were hurdles.
"We are going into Cancun hobbled by the measely U.S. financial commitment," he said referring to Washington's less than $2 billion pledge for a global $30 billion fast-start fund for poorer countries most at risk from climate change.
He said another problem was Japan's opposition to extending the Kyoto Protocol into a second commitment period from 2013.
Japan, among almost 40 industrialized nations with targets under the Protocol until 2012, said it will not extend cuts unless other big emitters like the United States and China also join in. [ID:nLDE6B0208]
"These are not good signs," Ramesh said. "Our (India) mandate is to play the bridge role between developing and developed countries and to ensure that there are some outcomes at Cancun." (Editing by David Fogarty)
U.N. Climate Talks Struggle To Overhaul Carbon Trade
Gerard Wynn PlanetArk 3 Dec 10;
Countries differed sharply on Wednesday on the future of a $20 billion carbon market after 2012, casting doubt on any overhaul of the scheme at U.N. climate talks in Cancun.
The Kyoto Protocol allows rich countries to meet greenhouse gas emissions limits by paying for carbon cuts in developing countries, earning carbon offsets in return.
No new emissions limits have been agreed after the first phase of the protocol ends in 2012, stifling investment in the offset scheme, experts told the November 29-December 10 climate talks.
Some market participants and countries want a formal, U.N. decision in Cancun to commit to proceed with the market after 2012, regardless of whether any new targets are agreed.
"We want a clear indication in Cancun, we leave it to the parties to decide how," said Henry Derwent, chief executive of the International Emissions Trading Association, a lobbying group.
"A clear decision would be great. In the absence of that investors will look at intent. The more we hear people saying this must go on, it points in the right direction," he said.
The Kyoto carbon offsetting scheme, called the clean development mechanism (CDM), was worth $20 billion in 2009.
The 1997 Kyoto Protocol requires industrialized countries to cut greenhouse gases by about 5 percent by 2012, compared with 1990 levels, but no successor has yet been agreed.
Several countries on Wednesday told the U.N. Cancun conference that the CDM's survival was vital, including Algeria, Brazil, Mexico and Papua New Guinea.
But they differed on other issues, including whether to widen the scheme to include new carbon-cutting technologies such as carbon capture and storage (CCS), much favored by oil-exporting countries but opposed by Brazil.
CCS involves trapping the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide from power plants and pumping it into nearly depleted oil wells,
As well as stopping the greenhouse gas from reaching the atmosphere, it also has the advantage that it helps push out the last dregs of oil, a process called enhanced oil recovery.
Japan bemoaned the slow pace of progress to overhaul the CDM, and said that as a result it was pursuing bilateral deals with developing countries to promote low-carbon technologies.
"We find a lot of problems concerning the current CDM system," said Akira Yamada, a senior official at the Ministry for Foreign Affairs, referring to the slow pace of project approvals and the narrow scope of technologies.
"We have to address these problems ... However, judging from the current progress of that discussion we cannot expect a timely solution so therefore ... we are also eager to explore bilateral cooperation with certain countries."
(Editing by Steve Orlofsky)
