Draft leaves climate details to leaders
By Arthur Max |
December 12, 2009, Saturday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
A NEW draft agreement yesterday at the Copenhagen climate talks pulled together the main elements of a global pact but left gaping holes on financing and cutting greenhouse gas emissions for world leaders to fill in next week.
The six-page draft document distilled a much-disputed 180-page negotiating text, laying out the obligations of industrial and developing countries in curbing the growth of greenhouse gases responsible for global warming.
News of the document came as the European Union leaders agreed in Brussels to commit US$3.6 billion a year until 2012 to a short-term fund to help poor countries cope with climate change.
The EU also conditionally lifted its commitment to reduce carbon emissions by 30 percent below 1990 levels over the next decade, depending on better commitments by the United States and Canada.
In the past the EU pledged a 20 percent cut with an option to increase that to 30 percent as part of a global deal.
The draft agreement is less specific than other proposals and attempts to bridge the divide between rich and poor countries. It leaves much to be decided by more than 110 heads of state, including US President Barack Obama, Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and most of Europe's top leadership, who are due in the Danish capital in one week for a landmark summit.
"This text will be the focus of the negotiations from now on," said Jake Schmidt, an analyst for the Natural Resources Defense Council.
The paper says global emissions of greenhouse gases should peak "as soon as possible." But controlling carbon emissions should be subordinate to the effort to wipe out poverty and develop the economies of the world's poorest nations, it says.
It calls for new funding over the next three years by wealthy countries to help poor countries adapt to changing climate conditions, but mentions no figures. The UN's top climate official, Yvo de Boer, has suggested a total of US$30 billion.
And it makes no specific proposals on long-term help for developing countries. "That's the gaping hole," said Antonio Hill, of Oxfam International.
Outside the negotiating complex in Copenhagen, police detained 40 people in the first street protests linked to the conference.
About 200 people rallied in the downtown area where corporate CEOs were meeting to discuss the role of businesses in the fight against global warming -- one of many side events to the UN conference that started on Monday.
Police spokesman Henrik Moeller Nielsen said the detentions were preventative, to avoid disorder.
The six-page draft document distilled a much-disputed 180-page negotiating text, laying out the obligations of industrial and developing countries in curbing the growth of greenhouse gases responsible for global warming.
News of the document came as the European Union leaders agreed in Brussels to commit US$3.6 billion a year until 2012 to a short-term fund to help poor countries cope with climate change.
The EU also conditionally lifted its commitment to reduce carbon emissions by 30 percent below 1990 levels over the next decade, depending on better commitments by the United States and Canada.
In the past the EU pledged a 20 percent cut with an option to increase that to 30 percent as part of a global deal.
The draft agreement is less specific than other proposals and attempts to bridge the divide between rich and poor countries. It leaves much to be decided by more than 110 heads of state, including US President Barack Obama, Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and most of Europe's top leadership, who are due in the Danish capital in one week for a landmark summit.
"This text will be the focus of the negotiations from now on," said Jake Schmidt, an analyst for the Natural Resources Defense Council.
The paper says global emissions of greenhouse gases should peak "as soon as possible." But controlling carbon emissions should be subordinate to the effort to wipe out poverty and develop the economies of the world's poorest nations, it says.
It calls for new funding over the next three years by wealthy countries to help poor countries adapt to changing climate conditions, but mentions no figures. The UN's top climate official, Yvo de Boer, has suggested a total of US$30 billion.
And it makes no specific proposals on long-term help for developing countries. "That's the gaping hole," said Antonio Hill, of Oxfam International.
Outside the negotiating complex in Copenhagen, police detained 40 people in the first street protests linked to the conference.
About 200 people rallied in the downtown area where corporate CEOs were meeting to discuss the role of businesses in the fight against global warming -- one of many side events to the UN conference that started on Monday.
Police spokesman Henrik Moeller Nielsen said the detentions were preventative, to avoid disorder.
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