Greenwire, 1 February 2008 - Diplomats from the world's biggest economies ended a two-day climate conference in Honolulu last night in disagreement over specific emission reduction goals but praise for the Bush administration's efforts to help craft a new international global warming treaty.
"We are happy that the position of the United States is changing, and we welcome this and we welcome this meeting because it's a sign that the position has changed," Brice LaLonde, a top climate adviser to French President Nicolas Sarkozy, told reporters at the conclusion of the meetings. "Of course, we want more. We want more and we hope in the next weeks after these discussions we will be able to deliver more, but it's a good start."
The U.S.-led talks brought together the 17 major economies responsible for about 80 percent of the world's emissions. They didn't come to any conclusions on items considered critical for a climate agreement that would replace the Kyoto Protocol in 2013, such as emission targets, technology, financing, adaptation and deforestation.
At the closed-door talks, Europe pressed for a global pledge to cut heat-trapping emissions by midcentury by 50 percent compared with 1990 levels. U.S. officials responded that they would "seriously consider" such a goal. China raised its own concerns.
"We had a real good discussion, a real discussion face to face," LaLonde added. "Why don't you do that? Or could you do it this way?"
South Africa's climate representative, Shaun Vorster, said the post-Kyoto agreement should "strike a key balance" on emission cuts, adaptation and the other items. "Though in some issues we do not yet see eye to eye, I think we leave here with a much improved understanding, not only of each other's national positions, but also of underlying concerns and aspirations," he said.
The United Nations holds the reigns on the international climate negotiation process. Next up is a General Assembly meeting Feb. 11-12 in New York. Formal U.N. talks resume at the end of March, with end-of-the-year conference planned in Poznan, Poland.
Diplomats hope to reach a post-Kyoto agreement in December 2009 in Copenhagen.
No 'sexy headlines'
"This is a frustrating process for journalists," said Phil Woolas, the United Kingdom's minister for the environment. "It is not giving sexy headlines day by day, but ... this is not an edition of "24." This is the process to organize the second industrial revolution, and I thank the United States for providing the platform to do that."
Jim Connaughton, chairman of the White House Council on Environmental Quality, hosted the Hawaii meeting a few days after Bush lent the international process a boost in his seventh and presumably final State of the Union address.
"President Bush made very clear that the United States is prepared to enter into an international agreement that includes binding commitments as long as the other major economies are prepared to do so as well," Connaughton said yesterday. "Because such an agreement can only being effective if we all take such action together, but then we are doing a whole cascading series of domestic, mandatory programs."
The U.S-led major economy climate talks continue in April in France.
No comments:
Post a Comment