|
›
Nations agree climate plan at UN Bangkok talks |
 |
The first major climate change talks since the Bali meeting last December have wound up in Bangkok with a schedule for how the 189 nations will work towards a new global climate treaty over the next 18 months.
|
2008-04-06
|
As expected, no major advances were achieved at a United Nations meeting, which was mainly intended to work out a roadmap for setting up seven more meetings until end-2009, when all 189 nations will meet in Copenhagen to forge the most far-reaching treaty to battle global warming. Gathering in Bangkok, Thailand, from 31 March to 4 April, more than 1000 delegates from 163 countries thus agreed to start a step-by-step work programme of negotiations in the areas of mitigation of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, adaptation to the impacts of climate change, development and use of new technologies, and financial market mechanisms. The results of these meetings will create a basis for a new global climate deal to replace the Kyoto Protocol after 2012. Welcoming the outcome as a major step in implementing the Bali agenda, Yvo de Boer, Executive Secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, said: The train to Copenhagen has left the station. Not only do we have the certainty that critical issues will be addressed next year, we now have bit-sized chunks which will allow us to negotiate in an effective manner."
|
In 2007, a UN panel concluded that the world needs to halve its GHG emissions by 50% by 2050 to avoid catastrophic changes to the weather system. So far, many countries having signed the Kyoto Protocol, are far off from cutting emissions by 5% from 1990 levels by 2012. As an example, early analyses revealed last week that EU industrial emissions in 2007 did not go down but instead increased by 1.1% in 2007.
Disagreement over burden-sharing and Japan’s sectoral approach
|
|
|
The Bangkok meeting was also a first chance to verify what movement has been made on major sticking points of targets and burden-sharing. The gap between developing and developed countries became eminent when Japan pushed for an early discussion of its new “sectoral” emissions approach. Under the proposal, national targets would be calculated by amounting emission reduction potentials in energy intensive industry sectors, including transport. As a result, environmental groups and developing countries charged that Japan, with its emissions rising amid an economic recovery, was trying to pass on the burden of emissions cuts to nations with less energy-efficient infrastructure. Japan’s plans were postponed to the third round of talks to be held in August.
Next steps
The Bangkok talks concluded that three more global meetings will be held this year, and another four next year to prepare for the final Copenhagen conference starting 31 November 2009. The next climate change meeting will be held in Bonn, Germany, in June.
|
More information:
› Read the article: Bali climate talks: Global deal by 2009 still possible, Dec 2007
|
