Deadlock on climate change continues

I / United Nations October 13, 2009, 10:42 IST

The stalemate over carbon emission cuts continues with the developed countries failing to deliver on issues like setting concrete targets for reduction even after the latest round of negotiations in Bangkok, according to a UN Climate Change team.

"Little progress was made on the core political issues such as mid-term emission reduction targets for industrialised countries," Janos Pasztor, head of UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's climate change support team, told journalists here.

The IPCC recommends that emission cuts by developed nations need to fall between 25 per cent to 40 per cent. While a few countries like Norway and Japan have announced ambitious cuts, the overall mark is still below 20 per cent.

Pasztor also noted that developed countries failed to make concrete proposals for funding poorer nations tackle climate change.

"Clarity is still lacking on the issue of finance that developing countries need in order to undertake additional actions to limit their emission growth and adaptation to the inevitable effects of climate change," he said.

The UN official, however, observed that some headway had been made on certain elements of the climate deal that include -- adaptation, technology, capacity building and reducing emissions from deforestation.

"Developing countries clearly demonstrated their moving forward in a spirit of pragmatic cooperation," he said.

The Bangkok round of negotiations were held after the high-level climate change summit at the UN in September where over hundred world leaders committed to combat climate change.

"There is still a disconnect between what national leaders say in summit meetings (and) what the negotiators offer on the negotiating floor," Pasztor said.

Now, discussions on the climate change issue will be held in Barcelona before the Copenhagen Climate Change summit in December, which is expected to yield a climate treaty to succeed the Kyoto Protocol whose first commitment period expires in 2012.

To be effective, such a treaty must include carbon emission reduction targets for developed countries by a specific date, some additional mitigation steps by developing countries if technology and finances are made available, a roadmap for adaptation and agreement on financing.

The Kyoto Protocol is at present the sole agreement that contains legally binding obligations only for developed nations to cut emissions.

The developing nations want to continue with the Kyoto Protocol commitments, while the developed nations want to pursue another track of 'Long Term Cooperative Action' with targets for all countries.

"Developing countries are adamant that we must maintain the Kyoto Protocol with its target," Pasztor said here.

"They don't want to get rid of the Kyoto Protocol until they see that something else is in place that also has targets for the developed countries," he added.