THE UN’s top climate official yesterday expressed confidence that a deal to tackle global warming was still possible in Copenhagen next month – but only if the US and other developed countries “put numbers on the table”.
Yvo de Boer, executive secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, said they needed to indicate how deep they would cut their emissions by 2020 and how much money they would provide to help hard-hit developing countries.
“Without these two pieces of the puzzle in place, we will not have a deal in Copenhagen. So leadership at the highest level is required to unlock the pieces,” he said on the final day of an often fraught week-long round of talks in Barcelona. “I think a number from the president of the United States would have huge weight,” Mr de Boer added.
“A US target [for cutting emissions] is an essential part of Copenhagen’s success, and would not be alien to what the [US] House and Senate have in mind.”
But Dr Jonathan Pershing, head of the US delegation, declined to be drawn on whether it would be tabling any figure at the Copenhagen conference, which opens on December 7th. “I have no information to say there will be a number,” he said.
Conceding that there was a “lot of interest” in the issue internationally, he said: “We’re studying this question, and a decision has yet to be made.” He also noted that the US Senate’s climate and energy Bill had cleared its environment committee on Thursday.
The Bill would result in a 20 per cent cut in US emissions by 2020, compared to current levels, while a Bill already passed by the House of Representatives would give a 17 per cent cut. But when asked if any US number would be in this range, Dr Pershing wouldn’t say.
“We still believe that a rigorous and robust deal is possible,” he replied. However, when asked what form such an agreement might take, he said: “Developing countries want a legal deal that applies to us, but not to them. We don’t find that acceptable.”
Stanislaus Lumumba, Sudanese chairman of the G77 group of 130 developing countries, said the outcome was “under severe threat” because many developed countries wanted to ditch the Kyoto Protocol and G77 “will not accept a weak green-washed deal”.
Referring to the one-day African boycott in Barcelona over the lack of numbers, he said: “Between now and Copenhagen, we need a real change of heart and mind by developed countries and that can only be expressed in numbers.”
But Artur Runge-Metzger, chief negotiator for the European Commission, said “there’s always a need for two to tango” and the EU needed to hear more from major developing countries (such as China and India) about what action they were prepared to take.
Sweden’s Anders Turesson, who jointly headed the EU delegation, also called on the US to produce a figure. “It’s very important for a deal in Copenhagen to have the biggest emitter there with a concrete figure, which should also be legally binding.”
Niamh Garvey, who has been monitoring the talks for Trócaire, said the EU also needed to “firm up its climate targets to create trust with their negotiating partners, especially in the developing world, and demonstrate that the EU is ready to do what’s necessary”.
Sorley McCaughey, of Christian Aid, dismissed fears that negotiations might take another year: “Certainly all is not lost. We absolutely do not accept that it is too late to reach a deal. Nor do we accept that there is no more room for flexibility on the part of the Europeans.”
Mr De Boer said that 40 heads of government have indicated that they will go to Copenhagen. These include among others British prime minister Gordon Brown and French president Nicholas Sarkozy as well as a number of African leaders.
