DURBAN 2011:DEEP DIVISIONS over how to curb climate change were laid bare here yesterday as the EU came under pressure to join a "coalition of the responsible" in renewing the Kyoto Protocol, due to expire next year.
China’s chief negotiator, Xie Xinhua, publicly denied “rumours” of a rift with India over his announcement on Monday that Beijing would be prepared to sign up for a legally binding deal to cut carbon emissions at some point. India’s environment minister, Jayanthi Natarajan, who has taken over as head of the country’s delegation at the UN climate conference, was dubious about taking this route, querying whether it would hamper India’s economic growth.
Mr Xie and Ms Natarajan appeared at a press briefing by the “Basic” group, which also includes Brazil and South Africa, to insist Durban must produce “a clear and ratifiable decision” to renew Kyoto. But with Canada, Japan and Russia declining to participate, the burden would fall on the EU and others such as Norway. Thus, as US climate envoy Todd Stern observed, a new protocol would cover only 15 per cent of global emissions.
The EU has made renewal of Kyoto conditional on other major economies – notably the US, China and India – agreeing to a “roadmap” for negotiations leading to the adoption in 2015 of a treaty to reduce carbon emissions from 2020 onwards.
The US does not accept the term “roadmap”, nor regard a legally binding agreement as more desirable than the voluntary pledges by developed and developing countries last year to cut emissions between now and 2020.
Oxfam climate policy adviser Tim Gore accused the US of continually blocking any discussion of post-2020 targets. “The next few days will determine whether we have a chance of keeping within [a temperature rise of] 2 degrees Celsius,” he said.
“All parties are putting their chips on the table, but not revealing their full hands. The EU will have to be at the heart of this and drive it in the last few days. A political declaration won’t be enough. We’re looking for the EU to set a new Kyoto period.”
Achim Steiner, executive director of the UN Environment Programme, presented copies of its latest report showing the gap between global emissions and the level needed to stay within the 2-degree target is growing wider.
British energy secretary Chris Huhne said existing pledges to cut emissions “will only deliver at most half the gap. It will require political will to ensure global emissions peak by 2020. We can politically posture about many things, but the science is non-negotiable.”
This was reaffirmed by Maria van der Hoeven, executive director of the International Energy Agency, which revealed emissions reached a record level of 30.6 gigatonnes last year. “Every euro spent now on energy efficiency and renewables is a euro well spent,” she said.
South African bishop Geoff Davies said it was “immoral for countries to say they’re entitled to carbon space”. With global warming hitting Africa hard, “climate change is a moral issue”.