[NYTr] Bali: A Deal of Sorts, Thanks to EU Climbdown

Sun Dec 16 13:17:19 EST 2007

Channel 4 News - Snowmail (UK) - Dec 15, 2007
http://www.channel4.com

BALI: A DEAL OF SORTS 

Introduction:

What can you say about the negotiations at the Bali climate talks?
Well, they managed to get diplomatic negotiators booing and hissing,
and make a grown man cry (that was the UN's top climate official Yvo de
Boer, after being accused by China of procedural irregularities).

No principled targets by industrialised nations to cut carbon emissions
25-40% by 2020, as the EU had been pressing for. A deal of sorts of
protecting poorer countries from deforestation, but with no proper
agreement on how to run a carbon emissions market that would fund that
protection, and through it all a nasty sense that the Americans have,
to use the jargon, "issues" and "an attitude problem".

I've been speaking to an exhausted Hilary Benn in Bali, just before he
heads home; and to Professor Sir David King, the British government's
chief scientist on climate change. It was Professor King, of course,
who once said there'd be more chance of action on climate with
President Bush leaving office. Three years ago King was described by
Republicans as a scaremonger, and he has said he believed the US
government climate strategist James Connaughton had blocked progress on
tackling climate change and banned him from from private talks at Camp
David between Mr Bush and Tony Blair on climate.

But Professor King is "cautiously optimistic" about the significance of
the Bali deal. An interesting perspective, then, on America's hardline
negotiating stance, that saw a deal snatched at the last minute, but in
language so weak, than many question its value.

And we get the right-wing American point of view from Myron Ebell of
the Competitive Enterprise Institute in Washington, who thinks accords
like Kyoto are "a waste of time".

5 Minute Guide - (June 25, 2007) climate change:
http://tinyurl.com/yqo6e6

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Channel 4 - Dec 15, 2007
http://www.channel4.com/news/articles/politics/international_politics/bali+a+deal+of+sorts/1189647

Bali: a deal of sorts

By Julian Rush

An eventual deal at the UN climate change conference in Bali sets a
global aim for deep cuts in global emissions.

There were boos and hisses for the Americans, who held firm against
setting clear targets for cutting emissions. At one point the UN chief
negotiatior broke down in tears. But the US did sign up in the end to
two years of future talks

A deal today - but no action until tomorrow. Yet the climax of the UN
climate change conference in Bali is being hailed as a victory snatched
from the jaws of defeat.

It had been an emotional night - delegates cried, harangued, pleaded,
and booed.

And finally the Americans agreed to a U-turn, though it still fell
short of what the Europeans had pushed for.

Under the agreement there will now be two years of talks, starting in
April, to thrash out a deal to succeed Kyoto in 2012 to bind outsiders,
led by the United States, China and India.

The Bali talks were never expected to set firm greenhouse gas emissions
targets, but the Bali agreement has set a global aim for "deep cuts in
global emissions" to avoid dangerous climate change.

The final text distinguishes between rich and poor countries, calling
on developed nations to consider "quantified" emissions cuts and
developing countries to consider "mitigation actions".

The Bali meeting agreed to launch a UN fund to help poor nations cope
with damage from climate change, such as droughts or rising seas. The
adaptation fund now comprises only about $36m, but might rise to $1-$5
billion a year by 2030 if investment in green technology in developing
nations surges.

The accord, enabling the fund to start in 2008, broke deadlock on
management by splitting responsibility between the Global Environment
Facility, which funds clean energy projects, and the World Bank. The
fund would have a 16-member board with strong representation from
developing nations.

A pay-and-preserve scheme known as reducing emissions from
deforestation in developing countries (REDD) aims to allow poorer
nations from 2013 to sell carbon offsets to rich countries in return
for not burning their tropical forests.

The 189 nations recognised the urgent need to take further action to
cut carbon and methane emissions from tropical forests. The draft
decision encourages parties to undertake pilot projects to address the
main causes of deforestation.

The meeting postponed until next year any consideration of a plan to
fund an untested technology which captures and buries the greenhouse
gas carbon dioxide, emitted from power plants that burn fossil fuels.
Some countries want capture and storage to qualify for carbon offsets
for slowing global warming.

Bali failed to agree whether or not to allow companies to sell carbon
offsets from destroying new production of powerful greenhouse gases
called hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs). Benefiting factories have been the
biggest winners under a UN scheme to reward companies which cut
greenhouse gas emissions.

The final draft called for more financial resources and investment for
developing countries on adaptation, mitigation and technology
cooperation, especially for the most vulnerable.

Technology transfer is a key demand of developing nations. They say
they should not have to sacrifice growth to fight warming, but cannot
afford the clean technologies that would allow them to expand their
economies while curbing emissions.

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Channel 4 - Dec 14, 2007
http://www.channel4.com/news/articles/politics/international_politics/eu+climate+change+climbdown+at+bali/1186747

EU climate change climbdown at Bali

By Julian Rush

The EU drops a key demand to include tough emission targets for rich
countries in guidelines for a new global climate pact.

The UN's intergovernmental panel on climate change had called for cuts
of between 25 and 40 per cent by 2020. But the United States has
remained implacably opposed - forcing deadlock at the Bali talks.

It's three in the morning on the Indonesian island, and there's been no
rest for the delegates. Now it seems a compromise is likely to emerge.
But will it mean anything?