UN climate talks seek to define rich, poor duties

* New proposals to define actions of emerging economies
* Nations agree on needs for 'balanced package'
* But still divided on content after Copenhagen summit
Timothy Gardner and Gerard Wynn Reuters AlertNet 1 Dec 10;

CANCUN, Mexico, Nov 30 (Reuters) - Climate negotiators at U.N. talks in Mexico on Tuesday struggled over proposals that would abolish a two-decade divide between rich and poor on scrutiny of greenhouse gas emissions.

Developed countries say fast-growing emerging economies led by China, which has become the top carbon emitter, have to do far more to curb their emissions. Many poor nations oppose changing a 1992 U.N. convention that obliges the rich to lead.

"I can guarantee you that this will be a controversial issue," Artur Runge-Metzger, a senior European Union negotiator, said at the Nov. 29 to Dec. 10 talks in a Caribbean resort.

"For China, there need to be much tighter rules for measurement, reporting and verification compared to a small poor country," he added, saying that EU funding detailed on Tuesday would help pay for the poorest countries to report their emissions. [ID:nLDE6AT2CU]

Most countries agreed on a formula at last year's Copenhagen summit, under which industrialized countries would cut their emissions and emerging economies slow growth in greenhouse gases.

The Cancun talks have far lower ambitions than last year's Copenhagen summit which fell short of an all-encompassing deal to help slow floods, droughts, heatwaves and rising sea levels.

Cancun will seek agreement on a smaller package of measures including a "green fund" to channel aid to the poor or efforts to protect tropical forests that soak up carbon as they grow.

A main point of controversy in Cancun is how far rich and poor countries report their pledges and whether these should be subject to international scrutiny.

India is proposing that all major economies, developed and developing, would report their emissions, while the rich would also detail climate aid.

That marks a big concession by a major emerging economy and would dilute differences between rich and poor: under the 1992 climate convention only about 40 developed countries have to report their emissions annually.

In a rival plan, the EU has suggested that developing country emissions would be subject to non-penalizing, international scrutiny, in proposals seen by Reuters.

Under the 1992 divide, South Korea and Mexico count among developing nations.

OLD SPLITS

Progress to adopt new reporting and scrutiny of emissions could unblock a wider deal, for example on a new round of carbon caps under the Kyoto Protocol after 2012, and funding to slow deforestation and prepare for a hotter world.

"It's an offer which could solve a lot," said Greenpeace's Siddharth Pathak of the Indian proposal, if that were adopted.

Some developing nations balked at last year's non-binding Copenhagen Accord, which approved carbon cutting efforts by developing countries, a widening of the present, 2008-2012 Kyoto Protocol which only binds the emissions of developed countries.

Still unsure is whether Kyoto will be extended beyond 2012, and widened to include emerging economies and the United States which did not ratify it, or killed off in favor of a new, wider agreement.

"We will sternly oppose debate for extending the Kyoto Protocol into a second phase which is unfair and ineffective," Japan's Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshito Sengoku told a news conference in Tokyo on Tuesday.

Bolivia was among a clutch of nations which opposed the Copenhagen Accord.

"We have noticed that several developed nations are not going to accept a second period of the Kyoto Protocol, even though that is in the (U.N. climate) treaty," said Bolivian delegate Pablo Solon, mentioning Japan.

(Additional reporting by Yoko Kubota and Chisa Fujioka in Tokyo; editing by Mohammad Zargham)

FACTBOX-UN talks try to define rich, poor climate effort
Reuters AlertNet 30 Nov 10;

Nov 30 (Reuters) - Negotiators at U.N. climate talks in Mexico are trying to define the climate actions required of developed and emerging economies, to overcome the main block in sharing the burden of carbon emissions cuts.

Under the U.N.'s existing Kyoto Protocol, only rich countries have to cut their greenhouse gas emissions from 2008 to 2012.

A Copenhagen Accord agreed by most nations last year defined action after 2012, where rich countries would cut their greenhouse gases and developing economies would slow growth in emissions through particular climate actions.

Still stalling progress is the question of how rich and poor countries report their cuts and actions, and whether these should be subject to international review.

Following are three proposals on the table at the Nov. 29-Dec. 10 negotiations in Cancun, on this controversial issue also called Measurement, Reporting and Verification (MRV).

SITUATION NOW ON REPORTING EMISSIONS

* Only industrialized countries report their greenhouse gas emissions annually to the United Nations.

* The United Nations does not comment on progress towards emissions targets, although a country which misses its Kyoto targets will be penalised under a successor round

* Developing countries do not have to report their emissions regularly, or their efforts to control these. If they do publish, developed countries should pay for the reporting and measurement

1. INDIAN PROPOSAL

* All countries, rich and poor, which contribute more than 1 percent of global greenhouse gases will report to the United Nations every two to three years
* Other countries will report every four to five years
* A U.N. group, comprising experts drawn from around the world, would assess the reports
* Developed countries report their emissions, progress towards emissions cuts, and their contribution to green funds to help poor countries cut emissions and prepare for a hotter world
* Developing countries report their emissions, and progress to their climate actions to slow growth in emissions

2. EU PROPOSAL

For developed countries:
* Annual reporting of greenhouse gas emissions
* A full national report every four years on funding and technology help for developing countries, plus their own greenhouse gas emission projections
* New rules for international review of reports

For developing countries:
* Full national communication every four years, including emissions levels, projections, and mitigation actions planned and implemented and funding and other help received
* The poorest, least developed countries submit national emissions reports at their own discretion

3. U.S. POSITION

All countries:
* "We think there should be more reporting; not just on your inventories (emissions levels), but also on your actions," said Jonathan Pershing, deputy special envoy for climate change
* International review of commitments "could be formalized"

For developed countries:
* Annual reporting of emissions

For developing countries:
* "Our sense is that the bigger you are the more significant your emissions, it might be useful to have more frequent reporting"
* "Perhaps every two years might be acceptable. That's fine"

(Reporting by Gerard Wynn in CANCUN, Mexico, Editing by Cynthia Osterman)

Old Rifts Mar U.N. Climate Talks On "Balanced Deal"
Robert Campbell and Alister Doyle PlanetArk 1 Dec 10;

Old splits between rich and poor nations re-emerged on Tuesday over a plan to slow global warming, but both sides maintained a "balanced package" is the goal of U.N. talks in Mexico.

After an opening day largely dominated by ceremony, almost 200 countries showed little sign of compromise on past demands that have brought deadlock since last year's Copenhagen summit fell short of a binding U.N. climate treaty.

All sides stress that Cancun has to come up with a "balanced package," a mantra that masks deep splits in strategy about how to curb greenhouse gas emissions and divide the responsibilities between rich and poor nations.

"A balanced package means many different things to developed and developing countries here," said Tim Gore of the humanitarian organization Oxfam. He said there was a risk that some nations might hold the talks hostage to push their agendas.

Developing nations at the two-week meeting reiterated calls for the rich to give 1 percent of their gross domestic product in aid -- far above a deal from Copenhagen that they provide $100 billion a year starting in 2020.

The United States and the EU, by contrast, insisted that "balance" means stronger action by emerging nations like China and India to curb their soaring greenhouse gas emissions by 2020 and to allow more oversight of their actions.

Delegates hope for compromise, noting that there are lower expectations for the Cancun talks than last year's Copenhagen Accord, which failed to draft an all-encompassing deal to help slow floods, droughts, heatwaves and rising sea levels.

"Not all of our demands are satisfied by current documents. But we think there can be agreement," said Peter Wittoeck, of Belgium, which leads the European Union delegation in the Caribbean resort of Cancun.

In Mexico, the United Nations wants agreement on a new "green fund" to help developing nations as well as ways to preserve rainforests and to help the poor adapt to climbing temperatures.

The meeting will also seek to formalize existing targets to curb greenhouse gas emissions.

The talks, which require unanimity to progress, are seeking a successor for the U.N.'s 1997 Kyoto Protocol, which obliges almost 40 developed nations to cut greenhouse gas emissions by at least 5.2 percent below 1990 levels by 2008-2012.

The United States never joined Kyoto, believing it would cost U.S. jobs and excluded developing nations.

A statement by the developing nations in the Group of 77 and China said that a balanced deal would have to involve an extension of Kyoto.

Kyoto backers say that any legally binding Kyoto extension should also bind the United States to cut emissions, and include climate actions by developing countries.

"We will sternly oppose debate for extending the Kyoto Protocol into a second phase which is unfair and ineffective," Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshito Sengoku told a news conference in Tokyo on Tuesday.

In Cancun, Bolivia's delegate Pablo Solon said he was "deeply worried" by reluctance to extend Kyoto, accusing rich nations of rolling back on past commitments.

Failure to agree a modest package in Cancun would raise doubts about the future of Kyoto beyond 2012. Kyoto's mechanisms encourage a shift to renewable energies from fossil fuels and help guide carbon pricing.

(Additional reporting by Yoko Kubota and Chisa Fujioka in Tokyo)

Negotiators get down to details at UN climate talks
Richard Ingham Yahoo News 30 Nov 10;

CANCUN, Mexico (AFP) – Negotiators got down to the nitty-gritty on the second day of the world climate talks on Tuesday, grappling for a breakthrough on half a dozen issues that will revive the battered UN process.

By December 10, the 12-day gathering hopes to kickstart operational work after a year in which political interest in climate change has all but dropped off the map.

"The discussions yesterday were generally good, but there are holes," said Nina Jamal of Indyact, a watchdog on green and social issues.

"But the negotiations are going to be complex if there is no flexibility by the parties and no political will."

The mood in Cancun remains darkened by memories of the December 2009 Copenhagen summit, where more than 120 world leaders came close to a historic fiasco.

They had gone to the Danish capital to bless an expected post-2012 pact to brake man-made greenhouse gases, blamed for driving the planet to a future of flood, drought, rising seas and freakish storms.

Instead, they entered a maze of national interests and reluctance to pick up the tab for easing dependence on fossil fuels, the backbone of the world's energy supply.

To get the process back on track, the 194 parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) are under pressure in Cancun to consolidate pledges on carbon emissions and devise ways of monitoring these promises.

They are also being urged to give at least an official start to a so-called Green Fund that would help channel hundreds of billions of dollars in aid to climate-vulnerable countries.

Technology transfer, help for coping with climate change and averting carbon emissions by deforestation are other areas that look promising.

But there was no guarantee that the UNFCCC will exorcise the devil of inter-connectedness -- in other words, a country or bloc of countries will refuse to sign up to one particular deal unless it gets a break in another.

In an early sign that this problem could revive, Brazil warned that developing countries expected a decision to extend commitments under the UNFCCC's Kyoto Protocol beyond 2012 as part of an overall deal.

"If we don't have a very clear decision on this in Cancun, it will be impossible to have decisions on other issues because we would not have the necessary balance," its chief negotiator, Luiz Figueiredo, said on Monday.

The future of the Protocol lies in a second track of the Cancun talks. The treaty ties almost every rich country to targeted curbs on carbon emissions, in a roster of pledges that runs out at the end of 2012.

The problem, though, is that the treaty only covers 30 percent of global greenhouse-gas emissions, as China and the United States -- the world's No. 1 and 2 polluters -- remain outside its obligations.

Even the European Union (EU), the Protocol's most ardent supporter, says this burden is unfair. But it says it could accept a deal if China and the United States set down promises on emissions that were not only ambitious but verifiable.

"The big give-and-take on this is transparency," said EU chief negotiator Artur Runge-Metzger.

Another bugbear is the status of the Copenhagen Accord, a compromise agreement stitched together in the dying hours of last year's summit by a small group of leaders but rejected as official text by some developing countries.

"We must avoid a repetition of what happened in Copenhagen, at three o'clock in the morning, with a document that was not discussed by all parties," said Bolivian delegate Pablo Salon.

Mexican leader: Move on from climate blame game
Charles J. Hanley, Associated Press Yahoo News 30 Nov 10;

CANCUN, Mexico – Stuck in a blame game led by "big players" U.S. and China, the rest of the world should take on the climate crisis more aggressively "with or without them," says Mexican President Felipe Calderon.

That example — through such basic steps as switching out Mexico's light bulbs — will rally public opinion and bring political pressure on the biggest contributors to global warming, Calderon told The Associated Press.

"I do prefer to be very pragmatic. I don't want to spend 20 more years discussing about the procedure and about the purposes and blaming each other — developing countries blaming developed countries, and developed countries blaming developing-country big emitters, and that is a never-ending story," he said.

The Mexican leader met with the AP as the annual two-week negotiating conference of the 193-nation U.N. climate treaty opened in this Caribbean resort under a heavy shield of Mexican warships offshore and helmeted, assault rifle-armed police and soldiers onshore.

The diplomatic effort to impose stronger controls on global warming gases — carbon dioxide and other industrial, transport and agriculture gases — has been stymied by friction between the two biggest emitters, China and the United States. After a major disappointment last year at the Copenhagen climate summit, no one expects Cancun to break the deadlock and produce a far-reaching global accord. Delegates hope for progress on secondary issues, however.

The U.S. has long refused to join the rest of the industrialized world in the Kyoto Protocol, the 1997 adjunct to the climate treaty that mandated modest emissions reductions by richer nations. The Americans complained it would hurt their economy and it exempted such emerging economies as China and India.

The Chinese, for their part, have resisted pressure from the U.S. and others in recent years to take on binding commitments — not to reduce emissions, but to limit the growth in emissions. They're still too poor to risk slowing down their economy, and the rich industrial nations bear historic responsibility for past emissions, the Chinese say.

"It is very important the behavior in this matter of the big players," Calderon told AP, mentioning the U.S. and China.

"If we don't get the commitment coming from them, is it necessary to wait 10 or five or another 20 years in order to start? I think we need to start with or without them, and to show with our own example the way to go," he said in the interview after opening the conference Monday.

Calderon pointed to Mexico's own plan to switch out tens of millions of incandescent light bulbs for more energy-efficient compact fluorescent bulbs.

"We're going to save a lot of money because it's very expensive, this electricity," he said.

In the first four years of his six-year presidency, Calderon, 48, has grappled above all with a life-and-death struggle with Mexican drug cartels. In the Cancun interview, however, he turned his attention to an area he knows well, as a former executive of Mexico's oil and electric companies and former Mexican energy secretary.

He said he hopes for a "very serious outcome" from the Cancun conference — decisions to establish a "green fund" to disburse aid to poorer nations to reduce their emissions and adapt to climate change; to make it cheaper for developing nations to obtain climate-friendly proprietary technology; and to finalize more elements of a complex plan to pay developing countries, including Mexico, for protecting their tropical forests.

One of the few key agreements at Copenhagen was for rich countries to funnel $30 billion over three years for "fast track" financing for poor countries needing quick help. Projects include coastal protection against seas rising rom warming; help for small farmers whose traditional crops are ruined by changing climate patterns; and aid to governments to plan for low-carbon growth.

The European Union said Tuesday it has mobilized euro2.2 billion ($2.9 billion) this year, and is on track to meet its pledge of euro7.2 billion over three years in short-term financing. Jonathan Pershing, chief U.S. negotiator, said Monday that Washington has allocated $1.7 billion for 2010.

Calderon is expected to take a personal hand next week in trying to resolve disputes over such secondary treaty issues, being debated while the world waits at least another year for an end to the gridlock on a new overall global accord to ward off the worst of climate change.

About 25 heads of government or state are expected to attend the final days of the conference, but neither President Barack Obama nor Chinese Premier Hu Jintao will be among them. Bolivian President Evo Morales, who last April led a developing world climate summit, will join the Cancun meetings Dec. 9, his country's delegation said.

U.N. experts say countries' current voluntary pledges on emissions cuts will not suffice to keep the temperature rise in check.

The last decade confirmed scientific predictions of 20 years ago that temperatures would rise and storms become more fierce, and those trends are likely to continue, Ghassam Asrar, chief of World Meteorological Organization's climate research center, said Tuesday.

The brutal heat waves that killed thousands of Europeans in 2003 and that choked Russia earlier this year will seem like average summers in the future as the Earth continues to warm, he said.