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Climate change talks seek to extend Kyoto |
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An UN meeting in Vienna has revealed disaccords on how to tackle climate change beyond the Kyoto agreement. A new proposal to set a 25-40% emissions reduction target below 1990 levels by 2020, is facing strong resistance from major industrial states.
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2007-08-31
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At an international climate meeting, the EU and other developing nations, such as China and India, have highlighted the need to limit global temperature rise to 2°C above pre-industrial levels as a prerequisite to avoid "dangerous" climate change. In a report issued today, Friday 31 August, the EU urged all industry nations to use a stringent 25-40% range in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reductions from 1990 levels by 2020 as a guide for future talks on a post-Kyoto agreement. The proposal, however, has met strong resistance from other developed nations, including Canada, Japan, New Zealand, Russia, and Switzerland.
Their refusal has exposed the disagreements among present and future contributors to the Kyoto Protocol about the target range of emission reductions necessary to halt global warming. Meeting in Vienna from 27-31 August, about 1,000 diplomats, scientists and business leaders from 158 countries have discussed the extension of the Kyoto Protocol ending in 2012. This meeting prepares the ground for formal December talks in Bali, Indonesia, that will initiate two years of negotiations on new binding climate targets.
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U.S. ready to contribute to next round of emissions cuts
Representatives from the U.S., which along with China leads the world in emitting GHG, confirmed at the Vienna meeting a future contribution to a global agreement, without, however, citing exact figures. The U.S., after rejecting the Kyoto Protocol in 1997, is now calling for separate climate change talks. On 25-27 September, a conference chaired by President Bush will gather the world's 15 biggest polluters in Washington.
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Reactions
Environmentalists and policymakers showed their dismay at the refusal of big industrialized nations to use ambitious targets as a guideline for a post-Kyoto agreement.
"This is voting for the apocalypse," said Stephanie Tunmore from Greenpeace, before adding that "the 25-40 percent range is needed to help avert dangerous climate change."
Austria's Environment Minister Proll confirmed that global warming "is a huge challenge that can only be dealt with at a global level. We do not have much time."
Background
The Kyoto Protocol, an amendment to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), was signed in 1997 to achieve the "stabilization of greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere at a level that would prevent dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system." By December 2006, 169 countries and governmental entities had ratified the agreement, with the USA and Australia being notable exceptions. India and China have both ratified Kyoto, although they are not required to reduce emissions under the present agreement.
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More information:
› UNFCCC Vienna Climate Change Talks - Official Website
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