Poor countries stepped up demands Friday on the industrial world to keep the Earth from catastrophically overheating, amid warnings that negotiations are moving too slowly to meet a December deadline for a sweeping accord on global warming.
This week delegates from 180 countries have skirmished over a draft agreement with some 2,500 paragraphs, sentences, phrases and words in dispute. They struggled to whittle down 200 pages of incomprehensible text into a workable document - but left Bonn after five days' diplomacy with much work still to do.
Government leaders are expected to discuss the key elements of a deal at a special United Nations meeting in New York next month, followed by a gathering of the world's 20 leading economies hosted by President Barack Obama in the U.S. city of Pittsburgh.
With time running short, negotiators and lobbyists are expressing fears that a deal won't be sealed this December in Copenhagen, the long-billed deadline to unveil a successor to the 1997 Kyoto Protocol.
"If we continue at this rate, we're not going to make it," said Yvo de Boer, head of the U.N. Climate Change Secretariat.
"It would be incomprehensible if this opportunity were lost," he said, adding that only 15 days of actual negotiations remained before Copenhagen
"Delegates spent too much time arguing over procedure and technicalities. This is not the way to overcome mistrust between rich and poor nations," said Kim Carstensen, head of the Global Climate Initiative of WWF.
The world's poorest and most vulnerable countries, including tiny island states that barely break the surface of the ocean, banded together to ratchet up the pressure on the industrial countries.
"Adverse affects of climate change already are being felt," said Dessima Williams, the delegate from Grenada, who led the 80-nation coalition. She cited rising sea levels, the spread of deserts and the loss of water sources, declining biodiversity and the growing frequency and intensity of hurricanes, floods and drought.
"Some states are likely to become entirely uninhabitable" unless carbon emissions are quickly checked, she said.
Scientists say carbon, mainly from fossil fuels for transportation and power, has accumulated in the atmosphere over the last 150 years to block heat from escaping, leading to a gradual warming of the air and seas.
The bloc of poor states said climate change is outpacing the best estimates of a few years ago, when scientists warned that the maximum safe increase in the planet's average temperature was 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) from preindustrial levels.
Williams said the 80-country group emphasized that every effort should be made to restrict the temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit). She said that would require industrial countries to slash carbon emissions by 45 percent from 1990 levels within the next decade.
Offers from wealthy countries total 15 percent to 21 percent so far, the U.N. Climate Change Secretariat said this week.
To avoid failure in Copenhagen, negotiators and activists said, government leaders need to resolve three related questions: How much more can industrial countries cut emissions? How much can developing countries slow the growth of their own? And how much money does the global community need to raise to help poor countries survive the effects of climate change?
Financial estimates vary wildly. The WWF says $160 billion is needed annually. Williams said the world should dedicate 1 percent of its gross domestic product - the equivalent of $400 billion annually.
The hoped-for Copenhagen agreement would succeed the Kyoto Protocol, which bound 37 industrial countries to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 5.2 percent from 1990 levels by 2012. Kyoto placed no obligations on developing countries.
This time around, the world's wealthier nations want developing countries, particularly China and India, to share the burden and agree to slow their explosive emissions growth.
A key point of dispute remains whether developing countries would agree to be legally bound to a Copenhagen accord.
The U.S. House of Representatives has already passed a climate bill that would impose trade penalties on countries that do not accept limits on their emissions, and the Senate is considering a similar bill. President Barack Obama has opposed attaching trade issues to climate and energy legislation.
India criticized the U.S. lawmakers' approach, and proposed a clause Friday that would forbid any government from erecting trade barriers to punish a nation that refused to accept limits on its carbon emissions.
India's chief delegate, Shyam Saran, said U.S. Congress was pursuing "protectionism under a green label" and sidetracking negotiators.
Saran said trade issues are "extraneous to what we are trying to construct here, which is a collaborative response to an extraordinary global challenge."
Saturday, August 15, 2009
Report: Product safety agency has no access to certain data on imported products
Despite the growing number of imports, the government's product safety agency has no access to certain customs information that could help prevent the sale of unsafe products, congressional investigators say.A report released Friday by the Government Accountability Office, Congress' investigative arm, looks at the Consumer Product Safety Commission, which is responsible for ensuring consumer products don't pose health or safety risks.Since 2002, the commission has asked the Customs and Border Protection agency for access to certain information that describes cargo coming into the country, under a 2002 agreement between the entities. That information, called "manifest data," would provide the commission with information about products in a shipment before it arrives in the U.S.The report said the information has not been provided because Customs and Border Protection believed it was not specific enough for the consumer agency's purposes. Seven years later, the agencies have not yet worked out access. The new report says both agencies have work to do to resolve the issue."That advanced notice, combined with other data that they have, would help them better identify risks before the products enter the country," said Philip Curtin, a senior analyst at the GAO. Although the information is not perfect, it would certainly be better than not having it, the congressional investigators said.In comparison, the Food and Drug Administration receives the advance shipment information from Customs, which enforces regulations for about 45 federal agencies.The product safety commission has come under pressure in the last few years over the increasing number of recalled lead-tainted products, many from China. From 1998 to 2007, the value of consumer products imported into the U.S. about doubled, according to the investigators. Products from China nearly quadrupled over that time, making up about 42 percent of all imported consumer goods.But the number of samples that the product safety commission collected for examination at ports of entry has dropped during that period. It collected 1,348 samples in 1999, but only 616 in 2006, 748 in 2007 and 1,170 last year.Congressional investigators said the commission has few staff at ports and limited analytical and laboratory support. A new law is supposed to increase the number of commission personnel assigned at ports.But investigators cited delays in implementing new powers given to the commission under the law and said the increased authority can only be effective if it's used more fully. And they said it's imperative for the problems in sharing cargo information to be worked.Customs and Border Protection did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Scott Wolfson, speaking for the product safety commission, said the agency is reviewing the recommendations and "will seek to be responsive."
Will 'Energy Crops' Become the Next Kudzu?
U.S. policies are subsidizing new energy crops that are likely to spread off the farm and wreak economic and ecological havoc, a federalFor years, researchers have worked to develop "advanced" biofuel feeds from unconventional crops such as grasses and algae.
The goal is to enable a switch away from corn- and soy-based biofuel to cellulosic energy crops that don't compete on the food or feed market and have a smaller carbon footprint. A 2007 energy law, in fact, requires a total of 160 billion gallons of the plant-based cellulosic fuels by 2022 that these crops would produce.
As a result, researchers are now selecting, breeding and engineering species that demand less water, fertilizer and agricultural land and grow year-round at high yields.
But it is often exactly these traits, such as drought tolerance or pathogen resistance, that make the fuels of the future ripe to become invasive species and cause widespread damage. The issue highlights another potential complication in what has been a bumpy road in the development of the biofuels industry.
"Absent strategic mitigation efforts, there is substantial risk that some biofuel crops will escape cultivation and cause socio-economic and/or ecological harm," the white paper, adopted by the Invasive Species Advisory Committee, warns.
The group of outside experts advises a federal council tasked with coordinating invasive species policies among 13 departments and agencies. It called on the U.S. government to take major steps to combat the substantial risks from biofuels as it promotes and funds biofuels development.
Invasive species are already costly
Every year, invasive plants cost the United States a minimum of $34 billion in losses and control costs, according to one study the group's paper cites. The potential scale of biofuel cultivation, at more than 150 million acres, provides ample opportunity to add to those costs, the committee says.
Some proposed biofuel crops already are invasive species.
One of the most alarming examples is giant reed, or Arundo donax, according to Joseph DiTomaso, the University of California, Davis, weed specialist who drafted the paper.
The grass grows in dense clumps up to 20 feet tall and is classified a noxious weed in California and in Texas, as well as other areas of the South. But in Florida, researchers are looking to plant even more of it as a biofuel crop, he said.
Proposed energy crops like miscanthus and reed canary grass also are already invasive species in some areas of the world, he said. And jatropha and algae, crops that could one day supplant jet fuels used in aviation, also pose high invasion risk, according to the Global Invasive Species Programme.
Other heavily publicized biofuel crops, such as switchgrass, look to be safer bets in the United States, DiTomaso said.
The laws of unintended consequences are well-known to anyone familiar with the history of invasive species.
A field plowed with good intentions
One of the 10 worst weeds in the world, known as Johnson grass, was originally brought from the Mediterranean to the United States in 1830 as forage material for livestock. Today it's invasive in 23 states, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and spreads aggressively in the South.
And kudzu -- the colorful "mile a minute" vine that has engulfed the southern United States -- was first imported from Japan to ornament gardens in the late 19th century.
The committee has made nine recommendations to avoid a more modern disaster.
It calls, for example, for long-term flexible funding for an early detection and rapid response system to monitor and respond to potential biofuel crop invasions.
But it also says that agencies need to craft proactive policies that minimize these risks in advance. It recommends evaluating each candidate biofuel crop in the region where it is proposed for cultivation and encouraging the use of low-risk species or cultivars.
Examples might be plants that are sterile or can't survive outside of the cultivated environment. Planting, harvesting, field abandonment, transport and storage practices should also be tailored to combat the threat, they said.
Selecting the right region is important, too. The committee recommended that federally supported research and demonstration projects select sites that minimize escape potential.
The issue goes beyond U.S. borders. The International Union for Conservation of Nature is also drafting guidelines on biofuels and invasive species. In Africa, it says, many governments are rushing to encourage biofuels development. But there, especially in countries lacking the resources to manage the risk of invasion, the threat has received scant attention, the group says. advisory board cautioned yesterday.
The goal is to enable a switch away from corn- and soy-based biofuel to cellulosic energy crops that don't compete on the food or feed market and have a smaller carbon footprint. A 2007 energy law, in fact, requires a total of 160 billion gallons of the plant-based cellulosic fuels by 2022 that these crops would produce.
As a result, researchers are now selecting, breeding and engineering species that demand less water, fertilizer and agricultural land and grow year-round at high yields.
But it is often exactly these traits, such as drought tolerance or pathogen resistance, that make the fuels of the future ripe to become invasive species and cause widespread damage. The issue highlights another potential complication in what has been a bumpy road in the development of the biofuels industry.
"Absent strategic mitigation efforts, there is substantial risk that some biofuel crops will escape cultivation and cause socio-economic and/or ecological harm," the white paper, adopted by the Invasive Species Advisory Committee, warns.
The group of outside experts advises a federal council tasked with coordinating invasive species policies among 13 departments and agencies. It called on the U.S. government to take major steps to combat the substantial risks from biofuels as it promotes and funds biofuels development.
Invasive species are already costly
Every year, invasive plants cost the United States a minimum of $34 billion in losses and control costs, according to one study the group's paper cites. The potential scale of biofuel cultivation, at more than 150 million acres, provides ample opportunity to add to those costs, the committee says.
Some proposed biofuel crops already are invasive species.
One of the most alarming examples is giant reed, or Arundo donax, according to Joseph DiTomaso, the University of California, Davis, weed specialist who drafted the paper.
The grass grows in dense clumps up to 20 feet tall and is classified a noxious weed in California and in Texas, as well as other areas of the South. But in Florida, researchers are looking to plant even more of it as a biofuel crop, he said.
Proposed energy crops like miscanthus and reed canary grass also are already invasive species in some areas of the world, he said. And jatropha and algae, crops that could one day supplant jet fuels used in aviation, also pose high invasion risk, according to the Global Invasive Species Programme.
Other heavily publicized biofuel crops, such as switchgrass, look to be safer bets in the United States, DiTomaso said.
The laws of unintended consequences are well-known to anyone familiar with the history of invasive species.
A field plowed with good intentions
One of the 10 worst weeds in the world, known as Johnson grass, was originally brought from the Mediterranean to the United States in 1830 as forage material for livestock. Today it's invasive in 23 states, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and spreads aggressively in the South.
And kudzu -- the colorful "mile a minute" vine that has engulfed the southern United States -- was first imported from Japan to ornament gardens in the late 19th century.
The committee has made nine recommendations to avoid a more modern disaster.
It calls, for example, for long-term flexible funding for an early detection and rapid response system to monitor and respond to potential biofuel crop invasions.
But it also says that agencies need to craft proactive policies that minimize these risks in advance. It recommends evaluating each candidate biofuel crop in the region where it is proposed for cultivation and encouraging the use of low-risk species or cultivars.
Examples might be plants that are sterile or can't survive outside of the cultivated environment. Planting, harvesting, field abandonment, transport and storage practices should also be tailored to combat the threat, they said.
Selecting the right region is important, too. The committee recommended that federally supported research and demonstration projects select sites that minimize escape potential.
The issue goes beyond U.S. borders. The International Union for Conservation of Nature is also drafting guidelines on biofuels and invasive species. In Africa, it says, many governments are rushing to encourage biofuels development. But there, especially in countries lacking the resources to manage the risk of invasion, the threat has received scant attention, the group says. advisory board cautioned yesterday.
Air Pollution Travels, Kills Thousands Annually
Unseen and odorless, microscopic particles of air pollution wafting overseas and across continents kill some 380,000 people each year, according to a new study.
Exhaust from diesel engines, sulfur from coal-fired power plants, and desert dust swirl into an insidious cocktail of of tiny particles that can spend weeks airborne.
The most harmful are the smallest, less than 2.5 microns in diameter; when inhaled they can irritate the lungs or pass directly into the bloodstream and damage arteries.
Scientists and regulators know this is a major public health problem, especially in developing countries. But less clear is the effect that air pollution generated in regions like China and Southeast Asia has on far-off lands -- say, North America.
Particulate pollution born overseas that floats into Canada, Mexico and the United States accounts for 6,600 premature deaths each year, Junfeng Liu of Princeton University and a team of researchers found.
Similarly, their study, published in the journal Atmospheric Environment suggests that a dust plume from Africa and a fog of pollution from Europe converge on the Indian subcontinent, condemning nearly 200,000 people to early deaths.
Globally, the team estimates that some 380,000 people die prematurely as the result of particulates emigrating from foreign lands.
"It's clear that this is having an impact on health," said Denise Mauzerall of Princeton University, a co-author on the study. "If we want to develop a strategy to deal with anthropogenic pollution, we should consider the health aspect as well as climate implications."
Mauzerall said that regulating diesel exhaust would be particularly beneficial. Diesel engines emit both black carbon, which absorbs sunlight and warms the atmosphere and microparticles.
But Richard Derwent, an independent air pollution specialist based in Newbury in the United Kingdom questions the importance of focusing on transcontinental pollution.
Most pollution tends to stay local; The team's study shows that in all cases, less than 20 percent of a regions' total pollution comes from foreign sources.
"If I was a policymaker in Europe, and I look at this and see that 2 percent of my pollution is coming from North America, am I going to immediately start negotiations with the U.S. or Canada?" he said. "I'm not."
"Domestic emissions dominate," Mauzerall agreed. "But there is enough long range transport to have an effect -- it's small, but not negligible."
What's more, the difficulty of studying microparticles on a global scale means that the team had to treat natural dust sources as equally toxic to people as smoke from a coal-fired power plant. This is a gray area for science, as researchers are still uncertain which types of particles do the most damage.
Exhaust from diesel engines, sulfur from coal-fired power plants, and desert dust swirl into an insidious cocktail of of tiny particles that can spend weeks airborne.
The most harmful are the smallest, less than 2.5 microns in diameter; when inhaled they can irritate the lungs or pass directly into the bloodstream and damage arteries.
Scientists and regulators know this is a major public health problem, especially in developing countries. But less clear is the effect that air pollution generated in regions like China and Southeast Asia has on far-off lands -- say, North America.
Particulate pollution born overseas that floats into Canada, Mexico and the United States accounts for 6,600 premature deaths each year, Junfeng Liu of Princeton University and a team of researchers found.
Similarly, their study, published in the journal Atmospheric Environment suggests that a dust plume from Africa and a fog of pollution from Europe converge on the Indian subcontinent, condemning nearly 200,000 people to early deaths.
Globally, the team estimates that some 380,000 people die prematurely as the result of particulates emigrating from foreign lands.
"It's clear that this is having an impact on health," said Denise Mauzerall of Princeton University, a co-author on the study. "If we want to develop a strategy to deal with anthropogenic pollution, we should consider the health aspect as well as climate implications."
Mauzerall said that regulating diesel exhaust would be particularly beneficial. Diesel engines emit both black carbon, which absorbs sunlight and warms the atmosphere and microparticles.
But Richard Derwent, an independent air pollution specialist based in Newbury in the United Kingdom questions the importance of focusing on transcontinental pollution.
Most pollution tends to stay local; The team's study shows that in all cases, less than 20 percent of a regions' total pollution comes from foreign sources.
"If I was a policymaker in Europe, and I look at this and see that 2 percent of my pollution is coming from North America, am I going to immediately start negotiations with the U.S. or Canada?" he said. "I'm not."
"Domestic emissions dominate," Mauzerall agreed. "But there is enough long range transport to have an effect -- it's small, but not negligible."
What's more, the difficulty of studying microparticles on a global scale means that the team had to treat natural dust sources as equally toxic to people as smoke from a coal-fired power plant. This is a gray area for science, as researchers are still uncertain which types of particles do the most damage.
Wilder, wetter cyclones will hit Japan's economy
Typhoons are Japan's least welcome visitors. Every year, about 30 of the subtropical twisters visit the country, sometimes with devastating consequences. Just this week, 13 people died in the south-west of the country.
If as some expect typhoons, also called tropical cyclones, become stronger with climate change, then the destruction will only increase. What hasn't been considered is that Japan might be in for an economic shock, too.
To estimate the bill the country will have to pick up in the future, Miguel Esteban at the United Nations University Institute of Advanced Studies in Yokohama, Japan, and his colleagues ran computer simulations to estimate the number of working hours that will be lost to typhoons in 2085.
Previous research has suggested that higher carbon-dioxide levels and warmer sea-surface temperatures will drive cyclonic winds to whirl 6 per cent faster in 2085, dumping almost a fifth more rain.
Storm shutdown
Currently, typhoons hit southern parts of the Japanese archipelago most strongly, but Esteban's model predicts that they will also strike hard further north in future, forcing more people to stop work and ports to close more often.
That's bad news for Japan, because almost a third of the country's GDP comes from trade. The simulations suggest that cyclones could rob Japan of 0.15 per cent of its GDP in 2085. In today's money that would mean a yearly typhoon-cost of more than ¥687 billion – some $7.2 billion, or about $60 per capita.
Japan will be able to cope, however, says Samuel Fankhauser of the London School of Economics – other countries should worry more about climate change.
"Other parts of the globe may be much harder hit," he says. "Relative to GDP, Africa's climate damages at that time might be 50 times as much, or 7.5 per cent of GDP, for example."
If as some expect typhoons, also called tropical cyclones, become stronger with climate change, then the destruction will only increase. What hasn't been considered is that Japan might be in for an economic shock, too.
To estimate the bill the country will have to pick up in the future, Miguel Esteban at the United Nations University Institute of Advanced Studies in Yokohama, Japan, and his colleagues ran computer simulations to estimate the number of working hours that will be lost to typhoons in 2085.
Previous research has suggested that higher carbon-dioxide levels and warmer sea-surface temperatures will drive cyclonic winds to whirl 6 per cent faster in 2085, dumping almost a fifth more rain.
Storm shutdown
Currently, typhoons hit southern parts of the Japanese archipelago most strongly, but Esteban's model predicts that they will also strike hard further north in future, forcing more people to stop work and ports to close more often.
That's bad news for Japan, because almost a third of the country's GDP comes from trade. The simulations suggest that cyclones could rob Japan of 0.15 per cent of its GDP in 2085. In today's money that would mean a yearly typhoon-cost of more than ¥687 billion – some $7.2 billion, or about $60 per capita.
Japan will be able to cope, however, says Samuel Fankhauser of the London School of Economics – other countries should worry more about climate change.
"Other parts of the globe may be much harder hit," he says. "Relative to GDP, Africa's climate damages at that time might be 50 times as much, or 7.5 per cent of GDP, for example."
Bonn Climate Talks Move at Glacial Pace
Negotiations toward a new agreement to limit global warming ended today in Bonn with little progress, United Nations officials and conservationists said.
"At this rate, we will not make it," said the UN’s top climate change official, Yvo de Boer, executive secretary of the UN Climate Change Secretariat.
A grim Yvo de Boer contemplates the slow pace of talksNegotiations need to move much faster to deliver strong outcomes on areas such as adaptation, technology and building skills in developing nations, he told reporters. Governments need to buckle down and concretely identify how to achieve this.
Attended by some 2,400 participants, the talks in Bonn were part of a series of UN gatherings this year designed to culminate in an ambitious and effective international climate change deal at the UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen in December.
De Boer stressed that "a climate deal in Copenhagen this year is an unequivocal requirement to stop climate change from slipping out of control."
The Copenhagen agreement to limit greenhouse gas emissions is to follow the first phase of the Kyoto Protocol, which expires at the end of 2012.
"So with only 15 days of negotiating time left before Copenhagen," said de Boer, negotiations will need to considerably pick up speed for the world to achieve a successful result at Copenhagen."
Anders Turesson, who chaired the European Union group in Bonn, said, "There are still chances for an agreement in Copenhagen in December, but it is time to step up the pace and other working methods are needed."
Dr. Jonathan Pershing, head of the U.S. delegation in Bonn, described progress as "modest but real" and said common elements are emerging that the United States would support.
"We would support the inclusion of a place for all parties, all countries, to inscribe their nationally appropriate mitigation actions and their commitments. We see a common element for low greenhouse gas strategies, and of measurement, reporting and verification of countries' actions."
A view of the plenary hall at the Bonn climate talks "For developed countries with commitments," said Pershing, "we envision that these would be quantitative emissions reductions with both a near-term and a long term component, there seems to be convergence among countries on that."
For developing countries, "We would like to see those countries inscribe robust, domestically-derived actions in a legally binding agreement," he said. "There are differences of view as to how that would be done."
Pershing says a deal in Copenhagen depends on India and China being included in any agreement. "Ourselves, Europe, China, India, Japan – it has to be the major emitters," he told BBC News. "If we think of a group of about 15 countries, they comprise of the order of 75 per cent of global emissions. We can't solve this without them; you need them all and they all have to move immediately."
The United States is willing to support least developed countries to build their capacity to make the needed changes, Pershing said. For coming financial year, the Obama administration "has increased nine-fold our financial request for adaptation, a key element of this agreement."
U.S. delegation head Johnathan Pershing briefs reporters. (Photo courtesy UNFCCC)
A key stumbling block is still the level and the source of financial support for poor countries, said Kim Carstensen, the head of WWF Global Climate Initiative.
Carstensen did say that "the growing number of countries supporting the idea of Copenhagen delivering a legally binding outcome was a positive sign."
"Delegates spent too much time arguing over procedures and technicalities. This is not the way overcome mistrust between rich and poor nations," he said. "Delegates are kept back by political gridlock. The political leaders must now unblock the process."
New figures from the United Nations released in Bonn show that 39 industrialized nations, excluding the United States, are planning to cut greenhouse gas emissions by between 15 and 21 percent below 1990 levels by 2020.
Canada, for instance, presented their national target to reduce emissions by 20 percent from 2006 levels by 2020.
Delegates from around the world talked informally in Bonn. August 12, 2009. (Photo courtesy ENB)
Russia detailed plans to reduce emissions by 10 to 15 percent by 2020 in comparison to 1990s levels.
These levels are higher than those mandated by the Kyoto Protocol - an average 5.2 percent emissions cuts from 1990 levels - but they fall far short of the 25 to 40 percent emissions cuts most scientists say are necessary to avert the worst effects of global warming.
De Boer told reporters these promises are "miles away" from the ambition needed to meet the goal, set by the G8 leaders last month, to cut emissions by 80 percent by 2050.
"Industrialized countries need to show a greater level of ambition in agreeing to meaningful mid-term emission reduction targets," said de Boer. "The present level of ambition can be raised domestically and by making use of international cooperation."
"We also need a clear indication of the finance and technology industrialized countries are ready to provide to help developing countries green their economic growth and adapt to the impacts of climate change," he said.
The action now shifts to a series of crucial political meetings in September - at the UN General Assembly, the Major Economies Forum, and the G20 meeting on global economic stability, all dealing with climate change.
An opportunity for all heads of state and government to provide clear political guidance to negotiators ahead of the Copenhagen conference will be the UN Secretary-General’s Climate Change Summit for world leaders September 22 in New York where leaders from all 192 Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change will assemble.
Work on the draft negotiating text will continue on September 28 in Bangkok, Thailand at a two-week session. Delegates will then assemble for five days of pre-Copenhagen negotiations in Barcelona on November 2.
The UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen takes place from December 7 to December 18, 2009.
"At this rate, we will not make it," said the UN’s top climate change official, Yvo de Boer, executive secretary of the UN Climate Change Secretariat.
A grim Yvo de Boer contemplates the slow pace of talksNegotiations need to move much faster to deliver strong outcomes on areas such as adaptation, technology and building skills in developing nations, he told reporters. Governments need to buckle down and concretely identify how to achieve this.
Attended by some 2,400 participants, the talks in Bonn were part of a series of UN gatherings this year designed to culminate in an ambitious and effective international climate change deal at the UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen in December.
De Boer stressed that "a climate deal in Copenhagen this year is an unequivocal requirement to stop climate change from slipping out of control."
The Copenhagen agreement to limit greenhouse gas emissions is to follow the first phase of the Kyoto Protocol, which expires at the end of 2012.
"So with only 15 days of negotiating time left before Copenhagen," said de Boer, negotiations will need to considerably pick up speed for the world to achieve a successful result at Copenhagen."
Anders Turesson, who chaired the European Union group in Bonn, said, "There are still chances for an agreement in Copenhagen in December, but it is time to step up the pace and other working methods are needed."
Dr. Jonathan Pershing, head of the U.S. delegation in Bonn, described progress as "modest but real" and said common elements are emerging that the United States would support.
"We would support the inclusion of a place for all parties, all countries, to inscribe their nationally appropriate mitigation actions and their commitments. We see a common element for low greenhouse gas strategies, and of measurement, reporting and verification of countries' actions."
A view of the plenary hall at the Bonn climate talks "For developed countries with commitments," said Pershing, "we envision that these would be quantitative emissions reductions with both a near-term and a long term component, there seems to be convergence among countries on that."
For developing countries, "We would like to see those countries inscribe robust, domestically-derived actions in a legally binding agreement," he said. "There are differences of view as to how that would be done."
Pershing says a deal in Copenhagen depends on India and China being included in any agreement. "Ourselves, Europe, China, India, Japan – it has to be the major emitters," he told BBC News. "If we think of a group of about 15 countries, they comprise of the order of 75 per cent of global emissions. We can't solve this without them; you need them all and they all have to move immediately."
The United States is willing to support least developed countries to build their capacity to make the needed changes, Pershing said. For coming financial year, the Obama administration "has increased nine-fold our financial request for adaptation, a key element of this agreement."
U.S. delegation head Johnathan Pershing briefs reporters. (Photo courtesy UNFCCC)
A key stumbling block is still the level and the source of financial support for poor countries, said Kim Carstensen, the head of WWF Global Climate Initiative.
Carstensen did say that "the growing number of countries supporting the idea of Copenhagen delivering a legally binding outcome was a positive sign."
"Delegates spent too much time arguing over procedures and technicalities. This is not the way overcome mistrust between rich and poor nations," he said. "Delegates are kept back by political gridlock. The political leaders must now unblock the process."
New figures from the United Nations released in Bonn show that 39 industrialized nations, excluding the United States, are planning to cut greenhouse gas emissions by between 15 and 21 percent below 1990 levels by 2020.
Canada, for instance, presented their national target to reduce emissions by 20 percent from 2006 levels by 2020.
Delegates from around the world talked informally in Bonn. August 12, 2009. (Photo courtesy ENB)
Russia detailed plans to reduce emissions by 10 to 15 percent by 2020 in comparison to 1990s levels.
These levels are higher than those mandated by the Kyoto Protocol - an average 5.2 percent emissions cuts from 1990 levels - but they fall far short of the 25 to 40 percent emissions cuts most scientists say are necessary to avert the worst effects of global warming.
De Boer told reporters these promises are "miles away" from the ambition needed to meet the goal, set by the G8 leaders last month, to cut emissions by 80 percent by 2050.
"Industrialized countries need to show a greater level of ambition in agreeing to meaningful mid-term emission reduction targets," said de Boer. "The present level of ambition can be raised domestically and by making use of international cooperation."
"We also need a clear indication of the finance and technology industrialized countries are ready to provide to help developing countries green their economic growth and adapt to the impacts of climate change," he said.
The action now shifts to a series of crucial political meetings in September - at the UN General Assembly, the Major Economies Forum, and the G20 meeting on global economic stability, all dealing with climate change.
An opportunity for all heads of state and government to provide clear political guidance to negotiators ahead of the Copenhagen conference will be the UN Secretary-General’s Climate Change Summit for world leaders September 22 in New York where leaders from all 192 Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change will assemble.
Work on the draft negotiating text will continue on September 28 in Bangkok, Thailand at a two-week session. Delegates will then assemble for five days of pre-Copenhagen negotiations in Barcelona on November 2.
The UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen takes place from December 7 to December 18, 2009.
China to start cutting carbon emissions in 2050
China will start cutting its carbon emissions by 2050, its top climate change policymaker was quoted as saying in the Financial Times Saturday, the first time the nation has given a timeframe.
"China?s emissions will not continue to rise beyond 2050," said Su Wei, director general of the National Development and Reform Commission's climate change department, according to the paper.
China competes with the United States for the spot as the world's top emitter of greenhouse gases and intense interest is focused on its stance ahead of climate negotations in Copenhagen in December.
The December negotiations are aimed at hammering out a new climate change pact to replace the Kyoto protocol that expires in 2012.
As a developing nation with low per-capita emissions, China is not required to set emissions cuts under the UN Framework on Climate Change, and it has so far also seemed reluctant to accept caps in the future.
For the regime that will emerge after 2012, Su in Saturday's Financial Times seemed to signal a willingness to compromise.
"China will not continue growing emissions without limit or insist that all nations must have the same per-capita emissions. If we did that, this earth would be ruined," he said, according to the paper.
"China?s emissions will not continue to rise beyond 2050," said Su Wei, director general of the National Development and Reform Commission's climate change department, according to the paper.
China competes with the United States for the spot as the world's top emitter of greenhouse gases and intense interest is focused on its stance ahead of climate negotations in Copenhagen in December.
The December negotiations are aimed at hammering out a new climate change pact to replace the Kyoto protocol that expires in 2012.
As a developing nation with low per-capita emissions, China is not required to set emissions cuts under the UN Framework on Climate Change, and it has so far also seemed reluctant to accept caps in the future.
For the regime that will emerge after 2012, Su in Saturday's Financial Times seemed to signal a willingness to compromise.
"China will not continue growing emissions without limit or insist that all nations must have the same per-capita emissions. If we did that, this earth would be ruined," he said, according to the paper.
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