U.S. says climate talks fail to make headway

TIANJIN, China Wed Oct 6, 2010 5:02am EDT

TIANJIN, China (Reuters) - The United States said on Wednesday U.N. climate talks were making less progress than hoped because of a rift over poorer nations' emission goals, and that other avenues might be needed to tackle climate change.









"The consequences of not having an agreement coming out of Cancun are things that we have to worry about," he said. "It doesn't mean that things may not happen; it may mean that we don't use this process exclusively as the way to move forward."

Underscoring the lack of trust between rich and poorer nations, he pointed to the need for big developing nations such as China, India and Brazil to commit to legally binding emissions reduction obligations as part of a new treaty.

The Kyoto Protocol only commits nearly 40 industrialized nations to meet binding targets in the pact's first phase till 2012.

China is the world's top greenhouse gas emitter after the United States, India is number 3. Both, which have pledged a range of emissions reduction steps under the Copenhagen accord, want Kyoto to be extended into a second period to make sure rich nations don't wriggle out of taking climate action.

Pershing said poorer nations' pledges under the accord must be internationally verifiable, something that was agreed in the final hours of last year's turbulent climate talks in Denmark.

Many negotiators at the Tianjin meeting echoed frustration at the slow pace, while some said that was an inevitable part of such a complex discussion.

"Things are going very slowly," said a delegate from a large African country, who spoke on condition he was not identified. "It's like we're going round and round in a whirlpool."

Thilmeeza Hussain, an official from the Maldives at the talks, said smaller, vulnerable countries worried that big emitters could use shifting away from the Kyoto Protocol to weaken their emissions-cutting commitments.

"If it's a two-track process, how can we create a legally binding treaty so that they don't jump ship?" she told Reuters.

(Writing by David Fogarty)

Comments (3)
Shuaiqi wrote:

Oct 06, 2010 4:58am EDT  --  Report as abuse
Harnes wrote:
Anyone else see the other news: Forecasters say this winter could be the coldest Europe has seen in the last 1,000 years.

I could swear all those politicians were saying we would never see another cold winter in just a few years. That the arctic Ocean would soon be ice-free year round.

I so wish this years big Climate festival meeting dog & pony show was going to be in Northern Europe again later this winter. Eventually even the most dedicated Green has to ask the basic question. If really cold winters hit year after year, are the advocates claims worth the old newsprint they are written on?

Oct 06, 2010 5:33am EDT  --  Report as abuse
justus2010 wrote:
The level of ignorance in understanding the simple difference between climatic change and seasonal weather patterns is truly astonishing – and a constant embarrassment to our nation, as evidenced by the comment above.

Oct 06, 2010 1:32pm EDT  --  Report as abuse