Talk, talk….but no agreement

By: George Thomas on October 7th, 2009

Bangkok–A negotiating bloc for developing nations at UN climate change talks here said Monday that wealthy nations, especially the United States, are trying to “kill” the Kyoto Protocol, the only international legal agreement that commits any nations to reduce their greenhouse gases.

Sudan’s Ambassador Lumumba Daping, chair of the G77 (a group of developing nations) and China bloc, said the developed world was reneging on their commitments to cut emissions of greenhouse gases that cause climate change and relying on a market system that that was fixed against poor and developing countries.

Ambassador Yu Qing-tai, special climate change envoy of China, joined Lumumba at a press conference prodding the developed countries to retain their commitments to limit catastrophic climate change in the run up to key talks in Copenhagen in December. “It is an historical opportunity in Copenhagen,” Yu said. “A deal can still be reached. But political will has to come from the US and EU.”

They expressed fear that it was not only the Kyoto protocol that was being “killed” but also the great aims made by that convention on December 11, 1997. The US is now demanding a new agreement by scrapping the Kyoto protocol. Developed nations, especially the US, must realise that other nations in the developing world also have rights and responsibility toward nature, Lumumba said.

The US position is that the Kyoto Protocol made heavy use of market mechanisms (for example, trading of rights to emit green house gases between rich and poorer countries). The US has not ratified the Kyoto Protocol, while 184 countries have signed this treaty to reduce greenhouse gases. The US also argues that many countries would not have done so if they thought it was inconsistent with the convention.

Developing nations have the opinion that trading of rights to emit greenhouse gases was not part of the convention, but instead has a limited role in the Kyoto Protocol alone. They want a treaty that legally binds developed countries to cut greenhouse gas emissions.

The general feeling coming out of non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and developing nation envoys in the corridors of the UN convention center is that there won’t be much progress on the road to Copenhagen unless the US changes its hard line stand.

Ambassador Yu Qing is very critical of the western block of developed nations. “They owe a climate debt to the developing world for their excessive greenhouse gases emissions. This overconsumption has also resulted in an adaptation dept, as developing countries have and continue to suffer the worst impacts of climate change. Developed nations, especially the US, must provide financing to developing nations,” he said.

On the US front, the Congress is still deliberating a domestic climate and energy bill and there is little chance of getting it ratified before talks in Copenhagen in December. Lawmakers and environmental campaigners have cast similar doubts on the prospect in recent weeks, given the high priority put on health care legislation and the array of hearings that would be needed on the energy initiative. The world is looking forward to Copenhagen for a settlement. If the US is coming without a “big promise” greenhouse gases will pollute our nature more and more and the developing nations in Asia and Africa will be forced to suffer the brunt of climate change, critics charge.