Challenges remain before climate change conference:UN official

With only 144 days left for the United Nations climate change conference in Copenhagen, a top UN official today said greater efforts are needed to ensure that countries "seal the deal" on a new pact to slash greenhouse gas emissions.

Addressing a press conference here, Director of the Secretary-General's Climate Support Team Janos Pasztor said the meeting of the Major Economies Forum (MEF) on July 9 made some headway on climate change but also highlighted areas where "we have a lot to do before we reach agreement" in Copenhagen.

Pasztor said the MEF meeting had agreed to establish a global partnership to drive transformational low-carbon, climate-friendly technologies, and promised to increase dramatically the necessary investments in research and development, with a view to doubling them by 2015.

Given the need for a significant scaling up of financial resources for both mitigation and adaptation, the MEF countries had also agreed to consider a "Green Fund" to that end, he said.

While having welcomed the G-8 agreement on a long-term goal of an 80 per cent reduction in emissions by 2050, the UN Secretary-General, he said, had cautioned that there was a need for ambitious mid-term targets and clear baselines.

To that end, developed countries must reduce emissions by 25 to 40 per cent below 1990 levels by 2020, a requirement set forth by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Pasztor said.

The Secretary-General was disappointed that the mid-term emission targets announced by developed countries in MEF were not in that range, he noted.

Pasztor said the Secretary-General expected the high- level climate change event on 22 September to lay a strong and necessary foundation of trust among leaders. The Summit would provide a platform for Heads of State and Government to consider the key political issues to be addressed during negotiations leading up to success in Copenhagen.

The focus would be on interactive dialogue between Heads of State and Government during round table discussions. National statements would be delivered via pre-recorded video messages, he said.    

Asked what the United Nations was doing to get developing countries to implement mid-term goals, even though countries like India and China had stated that they were awaiting action by the developed countries, he emphasised that the UN chief had stressed all along that all countries must make an effort on the basis of common but differentiated responsibilities.

He, however, said developed countries must be more ambitious in their emission targets and produce the financial and technological resources that developing countries needed.