Bonn climate talks end with no agreement on key areas

Progress made on technical issues, but non government groups criticise slow and convoluted pace of negotiations
John Vidal guardian.co.uk 17 Jun 11;

Two weeks of tense global climate talks wrapped up on Friday, with countries insisting they had made progress on technical issues but accepting they were still nowhere near agreement in the three key areas of finance, greenhouse gas emission cuts and the future of the Kyoto protocol.

Christiana Figueres, executive secretary of the UN climate secretariat, defended the UN against charges by non-governmental groups that the talks were painfully slow and convoluted, saying the economic crisis in Europe and elsewhere was making it harder to make progress.

"Climate [change talks] are the most important negotiations the world has ever seen, but governments, business and civil society cannot solve it [climate] in one meeting. Countries are being very creative, exploring all options," she said at the close of the conference in Bonn.

Figueres warned that there could a gap between commitment periods for the Kyoto Protocol, the only global treaty legally binding rich countries to cut emissions - the first phase of which ends in 2012. "Governments can double their efforts and come forward with middle ground solutions and options which are acceptable to all sides," she said.

The EU, which was challenged to lead negotiations by committing itself to a second round of Kyoto, said developing countries had to prove they had met all agreements made in Copenhagen and Cancún last year.

"We are ready for an international deal ... but we need everyone aboard. A second commitment period on its own is not going to cut it. We need to see more progress [in other areas]," said Jozsef Feiler, EU spokesperson.

Non-governmental groups said they were deeply frustrated at the snail pace of negotiations and whole days lost while countries debated the agenda of the talks.

Bolivia, which was isolated at the end of the Cancún talks when it insisted on deeper emission cuts, said it was worried at the lack of ambition. "There have been some small advances in technical issues, but no advance at all in the key issue of pledges for emission reductions. If there are no new pledges [soon], we face a very difficult situation," said Pablo Solon, ambassador to the UN in New York.

"The developed countries are not moving. The problem we face is that we are on a path to [warming of] 4-5C. That is the reality. That worries us very much. The problem is the lack of ambition," he said

Quamrul Chowdhury, a negotiator with the G77 group of developing countries, said that the talks were like the end of a long cricket test match with both sides playing for a draw. "No-one wants to lose anything at this stage."

"Europe should use its power to secure a second commitment period of Kyoto, even if only as a stop-gap before the creation of an entirely new global deal," said Mohamed Adow, senior adviser on global advocacy for Christian Aid.


Climate chief pleads for 'high-level' push on Kyoto
Marlowe Hood Yahoo News 17 Jun 11;

BONN (AFP) – New talks on global warming ended here Friday with the UN's climate chief calling on world leaders to help resolve the fate of the Kyoto Protocol ahead of a key meeting six months down the road.

"There is a growing realisation that resolving the future of the Kyoto Protocol is an essential task this year and will require high-level political guidance," said Christiana Figueres, executive secretary of the 194-nation UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).

"By Durban, governments need to come forward with options that will be acceptable to all parties," she told journalists, referring to the UNFCCC's annual gathering, taking place in November 28-December 9 in Durban, South Africa.

Kyoto is the only international agreement with binding targets for curbing greenhouse gases.

But its future is uncertain because China and the United States, the world's No. 1 and No. 2 polluters, are not subject to its constraints.

A first commitment period covering nearly 40 industrialised countries -- except for Washington, which refuses to ratify Kyoto -- expires at the end of 2012.

Japan, Canada and Russia have said they will not sign up for a new round of carbon-cutting vows.

The European Union (EU) says it will only do so if other nations -- including emerging giants such as China and India, which do not have binding targets -- beef up efforts in a parallel negotiating arena.

"It is not enough for the EU to simply sign up for another commitment period," said Belgium's Jurgen Lefevere, representing the European Commission.

"We only represent about 11 percent of global emissions. We need a solution for the remaining 89 percent as well."

Developing countries, though, insisted the Protocol be renewed in its current form.

The Protocol remains critically important because it contains proven market-based mechanisms for CO2 reduction and tools to quantify and monitor such efforts, Figueres argued.

If Kyoto collapses, it could stymie progress elsewhere in the hugely complex, dual-track talks, negotiators here warned.

Figueres said the fate of Kyoto is closely linked to progress in the parallel UNFCCC negotiations, which include all nations under the Convention.

These talks made headway in Bonn on technical matters, but remain deeply riven on the core issue of how to share out the task of slashing carbon pollution.

"Governments are realising that this link needs to be dealt with to get to a global solution, and that will require high-level leadership during the year."

There will be at least three opportunities for such dialogue between now and late November, she said, including a meeting of heads of state organised by Mexico on the margin of the UN General Assembly in September.

One option discussed being closed doors in Bonn is a "political" deal to extend Kyoto commitments "for one, two, three years," said Jose Romero, a veteran climate negotiator for Switzerland.

"That gives us some air to look for a solution" under the other track of the climate talks, he said.

The United States recognizes actions taken by China to slow the growth of its carbon emissions, but said they should be more transparent.

"That's the conversation that we are currently having with the developing government," said US negotiator Jonathan Pershing, who said he had met separately in Bonn with both his Chinese and Indian counterparts.

"But we haven't agreed on that. That is one of the outcomes that we think would be very significant in Durban."

Even if a scaled-down second round of Kyoto commitments -- including the EU and a few other small nations -- may be acceptable to some developing countries.

"It is better to have that than having nothing at all," said Grenada's Dessima Williams, chair of the the 43-nation Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS).

At the same time, rich nations must "raise their level of ambition," she told AFP.

Under current trajectories, "we are looking at a 4.0 degree Celsius (9.2 degree Fahrenheit) increase in global average temperatures," she said.

The figure of 2.0 C (3.6 F) above pre-industrial levels is widely viewed as a safety threshold although many scientists say it is no guarantee of preventing extensive damage to the climate system, inflicting worsening floods, droughts, storms and rising seas.