US softens its stance; China, India still rigid
A last moment drama blew a fresh air into the Durban climate conference as the US surprisingly agreed to an EU proposal that says the bloc would sign the second phase of the legally binding Kyoto protocol, provided all major economies sign a legal climate deal by 2015.
But frayed and tired negotiators are yet to reach their goal as India rejected the proposal and China, the world’s biggest emitter of greenhouse gas, has yet to endorse it.
The EU proposal, which it calls a road map to a new climate deal, has been backed by more than 120 countries.
But even if the Kyoto protocol gets a second lease of life, it would deliver very little in terms of cutting greenhouse gas and checking rising temperature as the EU represents only 11 percent of the global greenhouse gas emission. And the EU was anyway committed to reducing carbon emission by 20 percent by 2020.
The surprise US declaration came when Todd Stern, US special envoy for climate change, told a press conference: “The EU has called for a roadmap. We support that.”
The EU wants action from other countries as the Kyoto Protocol accounts for just 15 percent of world emissions as it was never ratified by the US and does not cover major economies such as China and India.
Kyoto protocol, the only legally binding agreement on emission, was signed in 1997 and is to expire in 2012. This is why a second commitment period is so important if the world has to bind itself within the target of keeping the global temperature rise to 2 degree Celsius by the end of this century.
But when the Kyoto was signed, the countries which committed to cutting emission accounted for 70 percent of the greenhouse gas. Since then China and India, which were not obliged to cut emission, have emerged as the biggest and the third biggest polluters. The US never signed the commitment.
As such, even with the EU signing the second commitment of the protocol, that would cover only 11 percent of the global greenhouse gas after Japan, Canada, Russia and Australia have walked out. And environmentalists see it a great defeat in the fight to check global warming that has been causing havoc across the world, more so in the poorer countries.
Chris Huhne, Britain’s minister for energy and climate change, declared the United States was giving ground in the face of a united call from two-thirds of the world’s nations.
“I think the US is reflecting the pressure that’s been brought to bear and is continuing to be brought to bear on many of the other members here who have yet to agree,” he said.
But other big emitters such as Brazil and South Africa have said they are willing to discuss the proposed programme.
The EU road map says negotiations should begin soon on a new global emission cut agreement under which all the major emitters would make commitments by 2015 to cut emissions, starting from 2020.
The US is reluctant to agree to specific dates yet but wants negotiations to start promptly.
-With The Daily Star input
