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Copenhagen Climate Talks Collapse

The climate change conference collapsed on Saturday without a consensus although US had brokered a political deal with India and three other emerging economies over non-legally-binding emission cuts which was rejected by an overwhelming number

PTI PTI Updated on: December 19, 2009 14:50 IST
copenhagen climate talks collapse
copenhagen climate talks collapse

The climate change conference collapsed on Saturday without a consensus although US had brokered a political deal with India and three other emerging economies over non-legally-binding emission cuts which was rejected by an overwhelming number of developing nations calling it one-sided and "suicidal".

As consensus for an ambitious deal to tackle climate change eluded the 12-day Conference of Parties (COP) in Copenhagen, US President Barack Obama pushed for a pact during parleys that went down to the wire. 

He put in a surprise appearance at a meeting of BASIC leaders involving Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao and those constituting the bloc of Brazil, South Africa, India and China. 

Early this morning capping 12 days of frenetic and sometimes dramatic discussions, Danish Prime Minister Lars Rasmuessen frankly admitted there was no consensus and the deal cannot be adopted. 

"If we strictly stick to the principle of consensus, this (the US-BASIC accord) cannot be adopted. I really regret it for this reason that we cannot adopt this document." 

"It is true that this document cannot be put into operational effect. It is true but it is a reality," he said. 

Singh and Obama delayed their departures by several hours to hammer out a face-saving deal that asks both developed and developing nations to set their emission targets by February 2010. 

The US-BASIC accord, taken as a final conference draft, contained elements like limiting temperature rise to 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, peaking of global and national emissions as soon as possible, factoring in overriding priorities of poverty for developing nations. 

It calls on industrialised nations to set their emission targets by February, 2010 and also asks the developing countries to do the same. 

In the contentious area of Monitoring, Verification and Reporting (MVR), it provides that unsupported actions could be subject to assessment only by domestic institutions but adds a new provision for international consultations and analysis without impinging on national sovereignty. 

On the finance side, it provides USD 100 billion for long-term funding for developing countries and USD 30 billion for short-term, which would go to the poorest and most vulnerable. 

Many of the African and Latin American countries attacked the document, saying it was not acceptable. 

Sudanese delegate Lumumba Stanislas Dia-ping, who chaired the Group of 77 and the bloc of 130 poor nations, compared it to Holocaust. "It is a solution based on values, the very opinion that funnelled six million people in Europe into furnaces," he said. 

Calling the draft deal the worst in the history of climate negotiations, he said that it asked Africa to sign a "suicide pact, an incineration pact, in order to maintain the economic dominance of a few countries." 

The tense negotiations at one stage saw Britain, France and Australia expressing reservations on the Indian position relating to emission cuts, mitigation targets and finance. 

"I think in the meeting that we had, unfortunately the French President (Nicolas Sarkozy) and British Prime Minister (Gordon Brown), many of them did not seem appreciative of India's point of view. ... Either they were not properly briefed or they chose deliberately to be oblivious of what we are doing," Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh said after the meeting. 

"I tried my best, a couple of moments there were some sharp exchanges between me and President Sarkozy. But I must say Chancellor (Angela) Merkel (of Germany) was very supportive of India, President Obama was very supportive of India." 

But, the Indian side did have some problem with Brown and Sarkozy and also twice with Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, Ramesh said. 

However, he said, after the meeting these leaders stated that they respected Singh and knew what a "great Prime Minister he is and what good job India is doing." 

Besides Sudan, several countries including Venezuela and Bolivia rejected the document saying it lacked targets for reducing carbon emissions. 

The three-page deal promised USD 30 billion in emergency aid to vulnerable countries in the next three years and set a goal of USD 100 billion by 2020 to developing nations with no guarantees.

Earlier,  Obama said the United States, China and several other countries reached an ``unprecedented breakthrough'' Friday to curb greenhouse gas emissions — including a mechanism to verify compliance — after a frenzied day of diplomacy at the UN climate talks. 

The agreement, which also includes the developing nations of India, South Africa and Brazil, requires each country to list the actions they will take to cut global warming pollution by specific amounts, a senior Obama administration official said. The official described the deal on the condition of anonymity because specific details had not been announced. 

The deal reiterates a goal that eight leading industrialized nations set earlier this year on long-term emission cuts and provides a mechanism to help poor countries prepare for climate change, the official said. 

But it falls far short of committing any nation to emissions reductions beyond a general acknowledgment that the effort should contain global temperatures along the lines agreed to by the leading economic nations in July. 

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said the talks were extremely difficult and: ``I must also say that I view the outcome with mixed feelings.'' 

Obama spent the final scheduled day of the climate talks huddling with world leaders, including Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao, in a bid to salvage the global warming accord amid deep divisions between rich and poor nations. 

In announcing the five-nation deal, Obama said getting a legally binding treaty ``is going to be very hard, and it's going to take some time.'' 

``We have come a long way, but we have much further to go,'' he said. 

The president said there was a ``fundamental deadlock in perspectives'' between big, industrially developed countries like the United States and poorer, though sometimes large, developing nations. Still he said this week's efforts ``will help us begin to meet our responsibilities to leave our children and grandchildren a cleaner planet.'' 

The deal as described by Obama reflects some progress helping poor nations cope with climate change and getting China to disclose its actions to address the warming problem. 

He said the nations of the world will have to take more aggressive steps to combat global warming. The first step, he said, is to build trust between developed and developing countries. 

The five-nation agreement includes a method for verifying reductions of heat-trapping gases, the official said. That was a key demand by Washington of China, which has resisted international efforts to monitor its actions. 

``It's not what we expected,'' Brazilian Ambassador Sergio Barbosa Serra said. ``It may still be a way of salvaging something and paving the way for another a meeting or series of meetings next year.'' 

Obama had planned to spend only about nine hours in Copenhagen as the summit wrapped up. But, as an agreement appeared within reach, he extended his stay by more than six hours to attend a series of meetings aimed at brokering a deal. 

With the climate talks in disarray, Obama and Wen met twice — once privately and once with other world leaders present — in hopes of sweeping aside some of the disputes that have barred a final deal. Officials said the two leaders took a step forward in their talk and directed negotiators to keep working, but the degree of progress was not immediately clear. 

Wen skipped a high-level meeting a second time and sent another envoy instead. 

Later Friday, Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton held talks with European leaders, including British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, French President Nicolas Sarkozy and Merkel. Reporters asked how negotiations were going as Obama walked into the meeting. ``Always hopeful,'' he replied. 

Many delegates had been looking to China and the U.S. — the world's two largest carbon polluters — to deepen their pledges to cut their emissions. But that was not to be. 

Swedish Environment Minister Andreas Carlgren, negotiating on behalf of the 27-nation European Union, blamed the impasse on the Chinese for ``blocking again and again,'' and on the U.S. for coming too late with an improved offer, a long-range climate aid program announced Thursday by Clinton. 

The U.S. got its share of blame. ``President Obama was not very proactive. He didn't offer anything more,'' said delegate Thomas Negints, from Papua New Guinea. He said his country had hoped for ``more on emissions, put more money on the table, take the lead.'' 

Obama may eventually become known as ``the man who killed Copenhagen,'' said Greenpeace U.S. Executive Director Phil Radford. 

Money to help poor nations cope with climate change and shift to clean energy seemed to be where negotiators could claim most success. Pollution cuts and the best way to monitor those actions remained unresolved.

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