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Wan LixinOpinion deputy editor of Shanghai Daily
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Climate deal: UN seeks US$10b
Source: Agencies |
July 24, 2009, Friday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
AID of US$10 billion from rich nations would be a "good beginning" to launch a UN climate treaty due to be agreed in Copenhagen in December, the United Nations' top climate official said yesterday.
Yvo de Boer, head of the UN Climate Change Secretariat, also told the BBC World Service that rich countries needed to pledge deep cuts in greenhouse gas emissions by 2020 and the poor had to slow the rise in their emissions.
But cash was needed to kick-start a deal. "If we can get in Copenhagen something like 10 billion euros or dollars that will allow developing countries to begin preparing national plans to limit their emissions and adapt to climate change, then that would be a good beginning," he said.
"But even more importantly, Copenhagen has to agree an architecture, a burden-sharing formula, that will allow us to share out the costs of climate action among countries as the needs increase over time."
Costs of fighting climate change in the longer term could rise to US$200 billion a year, the UN estimates.
Developing nations say the rich have to show willingness to give cash to launch a new UN pact to succeed the Kyoto Protocol beyond 2012.
Many developing nations are likely to be hardest hit by climate change.
In a 2007 report, a UN panel of scientists said cuts of 25 to 40 percent were needed to avert the worst of global warming. So far, promises by developed nations amount to cuts of only about 10 to 14 percent.
Yvo de Boer, head of the UN Climate Change Secretariat, also told the BBC World Service that rich countries needed to pledge deep cuts in greenhouse gas emissions by 2020 and the poor had to slow the rise in their emissions.
But cash was needed to kick-start a deal. "If we can get in Copenhagen something like 10 billion euros or dollars that will allow developing countries to begin preparing national plans to limit their emissions and adapt to climate change, then that would be a good beginning," he said.
"But even more importantly, Copenhagen has to agree an architecture, a burden-sharing formula, that will allow us to share out the costs of climate action among countries as the needs increase over time."
Costs of fighting climate change in the longer term could rise to US$200 billion a year, the UN estimates.
Developing nations say the rich have to show willingness to give cash to launch a new UN pact to succeed the Kyoto Protocol beyond 2012.
Many developing nations are likely to be hardest hit by climate change.
In a 2007 report, a UN panel of scientists said cuts of 25 to 40 percent were needed to avert the worst of global warming. So far, promises by developed nations amount to cuts of only about 10 to 14 percent.
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