Events | 2009.12.14
Copenhagen climate change talks stall
• Vital hours lost over claim Kyoto treaty being killed
• Brown flies in early as time to clinch deal runs out
A fraught day in Copenhagen yesterday saw disputes cause the loss of five vital hours of negotiating time and the UN and Danish organisers accused of sidelining developing nations by holding informal consultations with selected countries.
"The disaster has already begun because we have not closed the gap an inch. We have not moved," a senior Asian negotiator said. "We are just trying to paste over it with political rhetoric."
The rancour that has run through the summit between developed and developing nations broke out again when the Africa group of countries and others accused the UN chair of the conference of trying to "kill" the Kyoto protocol. The issue is that Kyoto is the only legal treaty compelling rich nations to slash their greenhouse gas emissions. But rich states complain that Kyoto makes no demand on developing countries, particularly China and India, whose carbon emissions have risen fast and will dominate future growth.
The lost time was "very regrettable", said the climate change secretary, Ed Miliband. "We have not done a brilliant job today. We are now four minutes to midnight." Ministers began arriving yesterday for the high-level political section of the talks.
The negotiations run on twin tracks: a Kyoto track and a non-Kyoto track. The US, Japan, Australia and others want a draft treaty to be taken from the non-Kyoto track. But after a lengthy time-out and frantic diplomacy from the UN and Danish hosts, it was agreed that the twin-track approach would continue. This means world leaders will have to contend with two draft treaties when they make the final decisions, which is seen as a victory for the developing nations.
Victor Fodeke, head of the Nigerian special climate change unit, said: "Africa is on death row. It has been sidelined by some countries. If there is any attempt to remove one of the tracks of negotiations, then it\'s obvious the train will crash."
Miliband said: "There can be an overall political decision expressed in the two documents. There is a real will for substance. I understand the anxiety of developing countries not wanting to declare an end to the Kyoto protocol before a new agreement is in place."
A Downing Street source said there was still time to get a deal: "I expect this agreement to be finished by the time the leaders come, except for final numbers. But it will take leaders to put those in."
The tension in Copenhagen continued last night as police were involved in fresh confrontations with protesters in the Christiania area of the city. Riot police reportedly used tear gas on people attending a party in a marquee, as helicopters circled over the area, an abandoned military barracks near the city centre which has been occupied by alternative lifestyle groups since the 1970s. Since Saturday more than 1,000 protesters have been arrested.
Gordon Brown will fly to Copenhagen today, two days earlier than planned. He is expected to focus on the vexed issue of how much money needs to flow from north to south to pay for dealing with global warming. A Downing Street spokesman said: "The prime minister has reprioritised his diary to ensure he can put the time that is required into shaping the next few days."
Other leaders arriving early include prime ministers Kevin Rudd of Australia and Sheikh Hasina of Bangladesh.
The time-out was called by the chair of the talks, Connie Hedegaard, the Danish climate minister. But her proposal that a core of ministers from 50 out of 192 nations gather to hammer out a compromise text merely incensed those left behind. "Developed nations won\'t come to the table with real numbers. That is the main obstacle preventing progress," said Su Wei, China\'s top negotiator.
The US administration attempted to sweeten a deal for developing countries with the promise of a $350m (£215m) fund for clean energy technologies, such as wind and solar power. The US energy secretary, Stephen Chu, likened the initiative to the breakthrough in seed technology after the second world war that dramatically boosted food production. "We need a game-changer like the green revolution was for agriculture," he said.
Chu claimed he detected no sign of resentment from the developing countries. "I don\'t feel that at all that there is any mistrust," he said. "Perhaps in discussion they may see me as a scientist and say: \'Let\'s just get on with it. Let\'s solve the problem\'."
Barack Obama has dispatched more than half a dozen members of his team to try to demonstrate America\'s commitment to cutting emissions and bringing in energy-efficient technologies, but much persuading remains to be done, say observers.
"Because the Senate hasn\'t acted [to pass climate change legislation], I think there is quite a lot of interest in what the US is willing to commit," said Jane Lubchenco, who heads the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
There is one American leader whose green credentials are often seen as impeccable – Al Gore, left. The former vice-president was treated like a rock star when he arrived at the summit to release reports on the melting of the Arctic ice cap. He told the packed room that there was a 75% chance that the entire cap would melt in summer in the next five to seven years.
For more information, please visit
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/20[...]gen-climate-change-talks-stall
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