Charles J. Hanley, Associated Press Yahoo News 11 Dec 10;
CANCUN, Mexico – Weary delegates from almost 200 nations struggled through night and day Friday to cobble together final decisions wrapping up the U.N. climate conference, small steps to revive the faltering, yearslong talks to guard the Earth against planetary warming.
No grand compact mandating deep cuts in global warming gases was in the cards. Instead, the two-week session focused on a proliferation of secondary issues — a "Green Fund" to help poor nations, deforestation, technology sales and other matters.
The cross-cutting interests of rich and poor nations, tropical and temperate, oil producers, desperate islanders and comfortable continental powers, all combined once more to tie up the annual negotiating session of environment ministers down to its scheduled final hours.
"Everything is still being negotiated until we have the full package," the European Union's climate chief, Connie Hedegaard, told reporters. "The balance between the elements is what is at stake today."
Coordinated by host Mexico, small groups of delegates, each led by two ministers, worked overnight and well into Friday behind closed doors at their meeting site, a sprawling beachside resort hotel.
Negotiators had made progress on one key issue: financial support for developing nations to obtain clean-energy technology to cut their own greenhouse gas emissions, and to adapt to potentially damaging climate change — by shifting agricultural practices, for example, and building seawalls against the rise of warming seas.
In the "Copenhagen Accord" that emerged from last year's climate summit in the Danish capital, richer nations promised $100 billion for such a Green Fund by 2020.
"There is a consensus that we set up a climate fund," Bangladesh's state minister for environment, Mohammed Hasan Mahmud, reported Friday. Details of oversight, such as its governing board's balance between rich- and poor-nation representatives, were left to post-Cancun negotiations.
Mahmud lamented that once again a hoped-for overarching pact to slash global emissions was being deferred at least another year, to the 2011 conference in Durban, South Africa.
"I doubt if the Durban (conference) will deliver the desired level of results if the negotiations go the way we have been going through here," he said.
Other issues facing intense last-minute negotiation at Cancun:
_Setting up a global structure to make it easier for developing nations to obtain patented technology for clean energy and climate adaptation.
_Pinning down more elements of a complex, controversial plan to compensate poorer nations for protecting their climate-friendly forests.
_Taking voluntary pledges of emissions controls made under the Copenhagen Accord by the U.S., China and other nations, and "anchoring" them in a Cancun document, giving them more formal U.N. status.
_Agreeing on methods for monitoring and verifying that developing nations are fulfilling those voluntary pledges.
In the 1992 U.N. climate treaty, the world's nations promised to do their best to rein in carbon dioxide and other heat-trapping gases emitted by industry, transportation and agriculture. In the two decades since, the annual conferences' only big advance came in 1997 in Kyoto, Japan, when parties agreed on modest mandatory reductions by richer nations.
But the U.S., alone in the industrial world, rejected the Kyoto Protocol, complaining it would hurt its economy and that such emerging economies as China and India should have taken on emissions obligations.
Since then China has replaced the U.S. as the world's biggest emitter, but it has resisted calls that it assume legally binding commitments — not to lower its emissions, but to restrain their growth.
Here at Cancun such issues came to a head, as Japan and Russia fought pressure to acknowledge in a final decision that they will commit to a second period of emissions reductions under Kyoto, whose current targets expire in 2012.
The Japanese complained that with the rise of China, India, Brazil and others, the 37 Kyoto industrial nations now account for only 27 percent of global greenhouse emissions. They want a new, legally binding pact obligating the U.S., China and other major emitters.
The upcoming takeover of the U.S. House of Representatives by the Republicans, many of whom dismiss strong scientific evidence of human-caused warming, rules out any carbon-capping legislation for at least two years, however.
While the decades-long talks stumble along, climate change moves ahead.
The atmosphere's concentration of carbon dioxide now stands at about 390 parts per million, up from 280 ppm before the industrial age. Scientists project average global temperatures, which rose 0.7 degrees C (1.3 degrees Fahrenheit) in the 20th century, will jump by as much as 6.4 degrees C (11.5 degrees F) by 2100 if too little is done.
The U.N. Environment Program estimates the voluntary Copenhagen pledges, even if fulfilled, would go only 60 percent of the way toward keeping the temperature rise below a dangerous 2 degrees C (3.6 degrees F) above preindustrial levels.
Oceans are rising at twice the rate of the 20th century, researchers say, and Pacific islanders report they're already losing shoreline and settlements to encroaching seas.
"It's worrying to imagine what will happen 10 years from now at this rate," said Bruno Sekoli of Lesotho, a spokesman for poorer nations.
"Climate change is a problem that has to be solved. There is no other way."
UN climate talks offer compromise to end stalemate
BBC News 10 Dec 10;
The latest negotiating text at the UN climate talks in Cancun, Mexico, appears to hint at a possible compromise to break a stalemate.
Earlier, prospects for a deal appeared to be receding, with nations clashing on future emission commitments.
Japan and Russia were opposed to further cuts under the Kyoto Protocol - a major demand of developing countries.
There were also divisions over a proposed fund to help poor nations deal with climate impacts.
According to the Reuters news agency, the latest draft made a reference to a "second commitment period" of the Kyoto Protocol.
This refers to an extension beyond the framework's first 2008-2012 round, which had been a divisive issue between industrialised and developing nations during the 12-day talks.
However, it still needs to be presented to the plenary of the 190-nation gathering.
The money wrangle concerned the proposed "Green Fund" - a vehicle that would gather and distribute funds running to perhaps $100bn (£63bn) per year by 2020.
During overnight discussions into Friday morning, the US, EU and Japan stuck to their line that the World Bank must administer the fund.
For developing countries, this was unacceptable, as they viewed the bank as a western-run institution.
Brazilian negotiator Luiz Figueiredo said Japan and Russia "accept this language, while before they didn't accept it", the AFP news agency reported.
The UK's Climate Secretary Chris Huhne told journalists:"I think we've made good technical progress in terms of finding potential solutions on the Japan, Russia versus second commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol issue."
However, he warned that there was a "real danger" that the annual talks could become a "zombie process" if there was not a successful outcome.
Balancing act
BBC environment correspondent Richard Black, reporting from the summit in Cancun, said the compromise text was a step forward but the talks were still likely to go down to the wire.
"The new document is strong on acknowledging the scale of the problem, but does not commit parties to new measures to curb emissions," he observed.
"It is a very short not-fomally-negotiated bit of text. Some countries are likely to object to the way it's been constructed outside formal negotiations.
"It recognises that developed countries would need to cut their combined emissions by 25-40% below 1990 levels by 2020 in order to meet 1.5C or 2C targets - but does not say how it is to be done."
He added that it "urged" Annex One countries (industrialised nations) to "raise the level of ambition" in order to meet the 25-40% threshold.
Also, he noted that the next text also offered details of a mechanism that could overcome the Japanese/Russian concerns.
"Annex One countries and the US would deposit their emission pledges into the same document - therefore enabling the Kyoto Protocol refuseniks to argue that they were not taking their cuts under the protocol."
Some - especially the Latin American Alba bloc, spear-headed by Bolivia - also object to the Green Fund as currently conceived, because they believe western nations have a duty to pay up from the public purse, whereas the fund calls for money to be raised through levies on carbon trading, taxes on aviation, or other "innovative mechanisms".
Bolivia's hardline stance was not popular with all other developing countries, with Costa Rica saying the nation's delegation were "leading the process to delay the discussion".
A number of world leaders - as many as 20 - scheduled phone calls to Japanese Prime Minister Naoko Kan, in an attempt to get him to soften Japan's position on the Kyoto Protocol.
'Washed away'
UK Prime Minister David Cameron held a conversation with the premier.
Environmental groups took out an advertisement in the UK's Financial Times asking whether Japan's stance meant the Kyoto Protocol had been "washed away" - a reference to the acclaimed Japanese animation Spirited Away.
But Japanese sources said Mr Kan was sticking to his guns.
The government had been pressed by business leaders to hold firm on this issue; and giving ground would be seen as a concession to China at a time when the two countries were clashing over disputed islands and supplies of rare earth elements, a key ingredient of some electronic devices.
It appeared that none of the leaders has put in a call to Moscow, whose opposition to further cuts under the protocol appeared just as solid as Japan's.
India offered beleaguered delegates a ray of optimism by indicating it might be prepared to accept legally-binding constraints on its carbon emissions - but not yet.
However, the meanings of phrases such as "legally-binding" are subject to a range of interpretations, and it is clear that the Indian position will depend on other elements of any final package.
A number of nations wanted the pledges countries made around the time of last year's Copenhagen summit to be "inscribed" into formal UN agreements, so that they could be reviewed and negotiated at a later date.
Several analyses have indicated the pledges do not add up to enough to keep the global average temperature rise since pre-industrial times below the 2C (3.6F) ceiling that many countries regard as the maximum "safe" level, let alone the 1.5C that others demand.
However, it appeared that inscription was being resisted by a number of developed nations. Campaigners cited Canada, Russia and Japan.
The talks were due to conclude at 6pm local time on Friday (0000 GMT Saturday), but look set to continue into the night - possibly beyond.
Rumours suggest the Mexican host government may even call formally for an extra day.
On other issues, there was a stand-off between Mexico and South Africa - hosts of next year's meeting - as to who should run the UN climate process through next year, with neither apparently keen on the idea.
Deadlock over Kyoto means Cancún talks have little to show after two weeks
Cancún climate talks turning into a never-ending global talking shop, say many of the Suzanne Goldenberg and John Vidal guardian.co.uk 10 Dec 10;
The future of international climate diplomacy was put into jeopardy today as the UN global warming conference at Cancún entered its final hours with no resolution to the divide between rich and poor countries. "We have very limited time to make a last push," warned Mexico's foreign minister, Patricia Espinosa. "No party can lose sight of what is at stake."
On what should have been the final hours of two weeks of negotiations, Connie Hedegaard, the European Union's climate change commissioner, warned that the UN process was at risk of becoming a never-ending set of meetings unless they reach a positive outcome at Cancún.
"Everyone must realise that if we don't get things done here in Cancún, it's very difficult to see how you go from A to B," she said. "If we leave Cancún without getting anything out of this, I think multilateralism has a problem."
After two weeks of talks, despite an all-night bargaining session, ministers had managed by mid-morning on the final day to agree on just one paragraph of text.
The widening dispute about the future of the Kyoto Protocol and the overall shape of the agreement being worked on in Cancún risked overwhelming progress made on such areas as preventing deforestation, protecting peat lands, and the green fund. The most positive comment the EU's Joke Schauvliege could muster for reporters was: "Everybody is still on speaking terms." The UK's energy and climate change minister, Chris Huhne, was more positive. "There's still all to play for. We're in a much better position at this stage than we were in Copenhagen. But there is nothing to stop one or more countries having a hissy fit and throwing their toys out of the pram."
Such crises are routine at UN climate meetings. This time, though, the dispute cuts to the very structure of the negotiations: on Thursday, Russia joined Japan in its opposition to a second term of the Kyoto Protocol. Canada has also refused to renew its commitment to Kyoto.
The prospects grew even more gloomy around dawn when the United States pulled back from an agreement on a green fund and said it needed progress on all issues in the talks.
The US has insisted on withholding support for agreements on issues of forest preservation and technology until its conditions are met on its core issue of verifying emissions reductions by emerging economies such as China. This has frustrated progress, turning Cancún into an all-or-nothing event. "It's the overall package," Hedegaard said. "It's the totality."
By midday, negotiators were reconciled to working through the night to Saturday to try to avoid a collapse over the future of Kyoto. There was a parallel effort in world capitals, with David Cameron phoning the Japanese prime minister, Naoto Kan, overnight. Negotiators and environmental groups said there were a number of creative options to try to get around the dispute over Kyoto.
The task had become even more difficult after Russia's climate change envoy, Alexander Berditsky, told the summit on Thursday that his country would not sign on to a second commitment.
Russia's announcement further cemented the divide between rich and poor countries over the future of the agreement following a statement from Japan at the start of the talks that it too would not sign an extension of Kyoto.
Japan reiterated its opposition on Thursday night, with its negotiator, Akira Yamada, saying a renewal of Kyoto was "not an appropriate way or an effective way or a fair way to tackle climate change".
Developing countries say Kyoto is essential as the only international agreement requiring industrialised countries to reduce their emissions. "A second commitment period is a must in the outcome," said Brazil's climate change negotiator, Luiz Figueiredo.
But some developing countries have also admitted they were open to a fudge – deferring the question of Kyoto's future to next year's climate summit in South Africa.
Climate talks down to wire, Mexico pushes for deal
* Mexico leads efforts to broker deal on Kyoto Protocol
* Little progress overnight in Cancun
* British, Japanese PMs speak by phone
Gerard Wynn and Alister Doyle Reuters AlertNet 10 Dec 10;
CANCUN, Mexico, Dec 10 (Reuters) - Mexico scrambled to break an impasse between rich and poor nations over future cuts in greenhouse gas emissions on Friday as 190-nation climate talks went down to the wire.
Delegates said there was little progress in overnight talks in Mexico's beach resort of Cancun and that the negotiations, due to end on Friday. may well be extended into Saturday as all sides seek a deal to address global warming.
"It's in the hands of the Mexican presidency," John Ashe, who is chairing key discussions about the future of the Kyoto Protocol, told Reuters.
The Kyoto Protocol currently binds almost 40 rich countries to cut greenhouse gases until 2012, but wealthy and poor nations are divided over what obligations they should all assume over the next few years.
Negotiators hope for a modest deal in Cancun to set up a fund to help developing nations tackle climate change, protect tropical forests and agree a mechanism to share clean techn ologies
Ambitions are low after last year's U.N. summit in Copenhagen fell short of a treaty.
Mexico's Foreign Minister Patricia Espinosa is presiding the two weeks of talks in Cancun and is leading efforts to broker a deal over the future of Kyoto which is blocking progress on other issues.
Britain's Prime Minister David Cameron spoke with Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan by telephone to discuss the standoff after Tokyo said it would not sign up for an extension of Kyoto beyond 2012 unless developing nations also commit to cutting their greenhouse gas emissions. The position has angered many developing countries.
A Japanese foreign ministry statment said that Kan would work to make the talks a success. Delegates of Britain and Brazil are also working in Cancun to help unlock a deal.
Ashe said it was "hard to say" if there would be progress on Friday, adding that Mexico's Espinosa was drawing up new texts for delegates.
"At least there's confidence that she could put something for them to consider. This was not the case in Copenhagen. If there's one thing that we've learned in Cancun is that trust has been restored," he told Reuters.
The Copenhagen summit collapsed in acrimony, agreeing only a non-binding accord to limit a rise in temperatrures to below 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 F) above pre-industrial times. Another failure in Cacnun would badly damage the UN-led talks.
Kyoto currently obliges almost 40 developed nations to cut emissions by an averge of 5.2 percent below 1990 levels from 2008 to 2012.
Japan insists that all major emitters, including China, India and the United States, must sign up for a new treaty to succeed Kyoto.
Developing nations say that rich nations, which have emitted most greenhouse gases by burning fossil fuels since the Industrial Revolution, must extend Kyoto before the poor sign up for curbs that would damage their drive to end poverty.
Separately, India said that it might eventually commit itself to legally-binding emissions curbs in a shift that could help the negotiations in Cancun. India has previously rejected any legally binding commitments. (Additional reporting by Krittivas Mukherjee in New Delhi and Yoko Kubota in Tokyo; Editing by Kieran Murray)
