USA and Europe aim to kill Kyoto Protocol, say G77/China
No commentsSenior diplomats from developing nations today accused the United States and European Union of trying to kill off the Kyoto Protocol, the only legal agreement that commits any nations to reduce their emissions of greenhouse gases.
They also criticised the US and EU for promoting market-based approaches to pay for action to address climate change.
Sudan’s ambassador to the United Nations, Lumumba Di-Aping, who chairs the G77/China block of 132 developing countries at the intergovernmental climate change negotiations, and China’s special envoy for climate change, Ambassador Yu Qingtai, made their comments in a press conference during talks in Bangkok.
The Bangkok talks are the latest in a series that culminate in Copenhagen in December, the deadline countries have set themselves for agreeing new commitments for developed nations that are party to the Kyoto Protocol and to agree comparable actions from countries — in other words, the United States — that are not.
The ambassadors said the US and EU negotiators wanted to replace the Kyoto Protocol with a new political agreement that includes responsibilities for all nations.
By contrast the G77/China want the Kyoto Protocol to endure, alongside a new protocol that would commit the United States to emissions cuts and include funding for developing nations to adapt to climate change, among other things.
Earlier in the day, however, the EU had stated in its own press conference that it supported the Kyoto Protocol.
Ambassador Lumumba also criticised the way developed nations are promoting the use of markets to provide the finance needed to tackle climate change, instead of committing funds from their own budgets. He said this approach was flawed because markets are controlled by the West. He added that Western nations, by removing public funding from the table, were shirking their commitment to financing.
The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change commits industrialised nations such as the US and EU to provide funding to developing nations to help the tackle climate change but to date these promises have not been met.
Ambassador Yu said the lack of progress in the negotiations was down to a lack of political will. He noted that negotiators have a mandate to keep the Kyoto Protocol alive and to agree new commitments for those industrialised nations that are party to it.
He said the US and EU moves to push for an alternative agreement in place of Kyoto, this close to the December deadline, was like one team changing the rules of a game in the final five minutes.
