Grace Chua Straits Times 8 Dec 11;
DURBAN (South Africa): Developed countries must show leadership in cutting their carbon emissions, but developing countries can and must contribute too, said Deputy Prime Minister Teo Chee Hean.
He was delivering Singapore's national statement, which outlines each country's position and demands, at the United Nations climate change conference in the South African city of Durban yesterday.
Ministers and leaders from more than 190 countries are in town to discuss the future of the Kyoto Protocol, as well as a legally binding deal for all countries.
The Kyoto Protocol, a legal pact that requires developed nations to cut their carbon dioxide emissions, as well as other measures to help developing countries cope with the impact of climate change, will run out by the end of next year.
Singapore, DPM Teo said, associates itself with the developing-country Group of 77 and China, and with the 39-member Alliance of Small Island States.
At the opening of the high-level ministerial segment on Tuesday, representatives of these developing- and vulnerable-country groups pleaded for a new legally binding agreement and for international funding mechanisms to be implemented.
DPM Teo said the measures agreed on in previous talks should be carried out. For example, under last year's Cancun Agreements, all developed countries pledged to reduce their emissions, and developing countries undertook nationally appropriate mitigation actions.
By UN estimates, those pledges will result in 3-7 gigatonnes less carbon dioxide emissions. Global emissions from the burning of fossil fuels for energy alone, by comparison, were 30.4 gigatonnes last year - a record high.
In Cancun, governments also agreed that developing nations should get finance, technology and training to help them tackle climate change.
Those must translate into concrete measures like setting up and putting money into a Green Climate Fund previously agreed on.
Singapore suggested three guiding principles for the talks, which have two days left to go.
One, the system to combat climate change must be multilateral, meaning every country has to play by the rules.
Two, there should be transparency, meaning countries must be able to measure, report and verify that they made the emissions cuts they pledged.
And three, there should be universal participation, meaning all countries must participate according to their respective abilities.
'What this means is that the developed countries have to show leadership in emissions reductions. But developing countries too, can and must make a contribution to the process, taking into account their national circumstances and constraints,' he said.
Some 90 countries have already pledged to reduce their carbon emissions, he said, 'but we need to encourage others to come forward and make their pledge'.
Singapore had pledged in 2009 at the Copenhagen conference to cut carbon emissions by between 7 and 11 per cent without a legally binding agreement and 16 per cent with one.
DPM Teo outlined some of the actions that Singapore has already taken: switching from fuel oil to natural gas, which cuts carbon emissions, and implementing vehicle quotas and usage constraints like Electronic Road Pricing.
It also has research programmes in clean technologies, such as solar energy, electric vehicles and a new centre set up with Shanghai Jiaotong University this week to study energy from waste and pollution monitoring.
And as a member of the International Maritime Organisation and the International Civil Aviation Organisation, Mr Teo said, Singapore is also working towards multilateral measures to cut emissions in the international maritime and aviation sectors.
'Through these efforts, we hope to develop effective solutions that can address the challenges faced by Singapore, and also contribute to global efforts to mitigate climate change,' he said.
Big emerging nations call for Kyoto extension
They want developed countries to take on 2nd commitment period to climate change pact
Grace Chua Straits Times 8 Dec 11;
DURBAN (South Africa): As the world's heads of state arrive in Durban, South Africa, to begin the high-level segment of the United Nations climate negotiations, the largest emerging economies said they were united in wanting a legal agreement on the Kyoto Protocol.
In their first joint press conference of this instalment of the climate talks, Brazil, South Africa, India and China said on Tuesday they wanted a second commitment period to the 14-year-old Kyoto Protocol.
The first commitment period, which concludes at the end of next year, requires certain developed countries to cut emissions. Developing and vulnerable nations want these countries to sign on to a second commitment period, and others to sign up for binding targets as well.
Chinese lead negotiator Xie Zhenhua also dismissed talk of rifts within the group, known collectively as Basic and as the largest emerging-economy emitters.
But each member of the group had slightly different demands.
China - the world's largest emitter with 24 per cent of global emissions - said it would consider being subject to hard targets after the next scientific report of climate change evidence and risk by the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change is released, provided its pre-conditions were met. The report is due in 2014.
Those conditions included a second commitment period under the Kyoto Protocol, and the focus to be equally on mitigation, which is cutting emissions, and adaptation, which means helping countries bear the impact of climate change.
Indian Environment Minister Jayanthi Natarajan wanted developed nations to shoulder more of the burden as they had started industrialising and polluting earlier.
'Developing countries should not be asked to make a payment every time an existing obligation becomes due on the part of developed countries,' she said.
The Basic countries also sought to get the Green Climate Fund, agreed on at last year's talks in Cancun, Mexico, up and running with money in the bank.
The fund is supposed to get US$100 billion (S$129 billion) a year by 2020 to countries that need help tackling climate change. But it is now empty, and details of who should fund it and how have not been decided yet.
At the start of high-level talks on Tuesday, developing and vulnerable countries also reiterated the need for developed countries to take the lead, and warned of dire consequences should negotiations not reach an agreement.
Mr Karl Hood, Grenada's Environment Minister, speaking on behalf of the Alliance of Small Island States
(Aosis), which includes Singapore, said: 'We in Aosis have not come here to negotiate ourselves out of existence, but this is what will happen if we give in to some of the proposals put forward in the last couple of days.'
Singapore is also part of the Group of 77, the largest inter-governmental organisation of developing countries in the UN.
At the same time, Ms Connie Hedegaard, European Commissioner for climate action, held fast to the European Union's road map concept, which would require developed and developing countries to say when they would commit to binding greenhouse gas cuts under the Kyoto Protocol.
The EU has already committed to cutting emissions by at least 20 per cent by 2020.
Even so, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon said in his opening statement that 'the ultimate goal of a comprehensive and binding climate change agreement may be beyond our reach - for now'.
With another two days of negotiations to go, what is left on the table is whether countries will make a legal decision to extend the Kyoto Protocol's first commitment period, or table the decision to next year.
Outcome of climate change talks will need to be "balanced" and "ambitious"
Today Online 8 Dec 11;
The outcome of the climate change talks in Durban should be guided by principles of multilateralism, transparency and universal participation, said Deputy Prime Minister Teo Chee Hean.
Speaking at the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change in the South African city, Mr Teo said that countries will need to push for a package of decisions "that is not only balanced, but also ambitious".
He said that without a strong multilateral system, "the risks of unilateral actions are high" and "will have serious distortive effects", and the second commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol would be "critical" to achieving commitment to a multilateral rules-based system to deal with climate change.
"It is also vitally important that the Cancun decisions on mitigation, adaptation, finance, technology and capacity building are implemented, he added.
To enhance transparency, it is also important to reach a decision on a framework for Measurable, Reportable and Verifiable (MRV) provisions to to monitor the implementation of individual and collective actions. T
"Transparency is the key to building confidence and trust in the multilateral process. Greater transparency will also create greater reciprocity of action, leading to even more ambitious targets over time to address climate change," said Mr Teo.
Mr Teo also urged universal participation by countries to combat climate change.
"What this means is that the developed countries have to show leadership in emissions reductions," he said. "But developing countries too can and must make a contribution to the process, taking into account their national circumstances and constraints."
He gave a rundown on Singapore's efforts so far, such as the switch from fuel oil to natural gas to generate electricity in 2001, and the building up of research capabilities in clean technology and test-beds for low-carbon sustainable solutions like smart grids and electric vehicles.
Singapore is also working to meet its unconditional pledge to achieve emissions of 7 to 11 per cent below BAU-levels by 2020, and has pledged to to achieve 16 per cent below Business-As-Usual (BAU) levels by 2020 if a legally binding global agreement is reached.
"Given our early mitigation actions and difficulties to switch to alternatives, our pledge is a substantial commitment and will entail significant efforts from all sectors of our economy and our population," he said.
