UN climate talks moving at snail's pace, says Ban Ki-moon

Pace of negotiations for a climate deal in Paris later this year is too slow, says UN secretary general, as China says it will shortly submit its carbon pledge
Suzanne Goldenberg The Guardian 29 Jun 15;

Negotiations for a deal to fight climate change were moving at a “snail’s pace”, the United Nations chief, Ban Ki-Moon, told a high-level meeting on Monday.

A promise from China – the world’s biggest carbon polluter – for ambitious cuts to greenhouse gas emissions “very soon” could inject some much-needed optimism into the talks.

But the UN and other leaders warned that time was running out to reach a strong climate change deal in Paris at the end of the year.

The gloomy assessment from Ban contrasts with sense of building momentum following the G7 commitment to phase out fossil fuels, the Pope’s call for radical climate action, and a flurry of recent climate announcements from Barack Obama.

Five months before the critical gathering, Ban said talks were bogged down, and that negotiators faced many challenges and controversies. “The negotiation pace is too slow, far too slow,” Ban told reporters. “It is moving at a snail’s pace.”

He noted there were only 10 formal days of negotiation left before Paris.

The countries of the European Union and 10 other countries have already made public their pledges for cutting greenhouse gas emissions in the coming decades.

The EU has committed to a 40% drop in bloc emissions by 2030 and, speaking after a bilateral summit in Brussels, the bloc’s president, Jean-Claude Juncker called on China to match its resolve.

“I would strongly welcome China taking on its shoulders, commitments that have the same ambition, if not in numbers then at least in targets,” he told a Brussels press conference.

Beijing though is increasingly measuring its climate pledges against those made by the US - and not Europe, according to analysts at the ChinaDialogue think tank. Trade spats, incoherent policy priorities, and mutual suspicions over climate agendas have all strained ties.

Responding to Juncker, the Chinese premier Li Keqiang said that China and the EU could jointly combat climate change, within existing frameworks that oblige deeper emissions cuts by more developed countries first.

“We are willing to work together with the EU to jointly tackle the challenges caused by climate change, observe common but differentiated responsibilities, equity and our respective capabilities to implement climate change solutions,” he said.

An agreement signed by both sides called for an ambitious and legally-binding agreement to be sealed in Paris, and for links between their respective carbon markets to be expanded.

After the last round of talks, in Bonn earlier this month, the 193 countries at the table were left far apart on the contours of the deal.

Meanwhile, there was growing frustration with rich countries for failing to deliver on a promise to mobilise $100bn a year from 2020 to help poor and developing countries deal with climate change.

In a much-needed positive note, China, which is responsible for 24% of global carbon emissions, said it would make an official commitment to make ambitious cuts in greenhouse gas emissions “very soon”.

“We are making great efforts to bring about a revolution in energy production and consumption,” Xie Zhenhua, China’s climate change envoy, told the meeting.

He said China would step up those efforts in its post-2020 climate change plan, and would set lay out a detailed plan for cutting carbon pollution and protecting its people from sea-level rise, extreme weather and other consequences of climate change.

“These targets are quite ambitious and will require arduous effort for implementation,” Xie said. “We have a determination and a confidence to reach these goals so they replace fossil fuel energy.”

The countries of the European Union and 10 other countries have already made public their pledges for cutting greenhouse gas emissions in the coming decades.

China and the US – the world’s two biggest carbon polluters – took an historic first step to reining in emissions in the coming decades last November.

The US unveiled a plan to cut its emissions by 26% to 28% on 2005 levels by 2025, and China for the first time agreed to peak its emissions and get 20% of its electricity from renewable energy by 2030.

China said in the past it would deliver its pledge by the end of June, and there was growing anticipation that it may raise its ambitions.

India, the third biggest carbon polluter, has said it will deliver its pledge by the end of September.

But there was growing acknowledgement on Monday of the challenges to reaching a deal to avoid dangerous climate change. Ban told the meeting that the commitments made ahead of the Paris meeting would fail to limit warming to 2C, the internationally-agreed limit.

One of the big sticking points is cash – with rich countries so far failing to live up to promise to mobilise $100bn a year by 2020 for climate finance.

The funds were first promised at the Copenhagen climate conference six years ago to help poor countries cut carbon pollution and protect their peoples from climate change.

Ban called on presidents and prime ministers to provide clear guidance, saying “creditable climate finance is essential”. He went on: “It is imperative that developed countries provide greater clarity on the public finance component of the $100bn before Paris.”

Rachel Kyte, the World Bank climate envoy, said there was a disconnect between UN and negotiators’ view of climate funding, and those of finance ministers and financial institutions.

“You can definitely feel that there is something moving,” Kyte said. But she added: “There is a disconnection between financial world and negotiation world, and just as urgently as we have to mobilise finance so we urgently need to fix that disconnect.

She added. “Maybe it’s not a complete disconnect but it’s a weak connection.”

For the small islands of the Pacific, it may already be too late. Anote Tong, the president of the tiny island of Kiribati, told the meeting king tides were already forcing villages to relocate.

“We may be in the world’s last hour in which our planet can be saved,” Tony de Brum, the foreign minister of the Marshall Islands, told the meeting.