Push for New Climate Treaty Intensifies, Hope Seen

Intensive diplomatic efforts to agree the elements of a framework by the end of the year for a new global climate change treaty are starting to make headway, according to a European official close to the negotiations.

The tone of the debate has changed in the United States and Australia — key nations which rejected the Kyoto Protocol on curbing greenhouse gas emissions — and German Chancellor Angela Merkel has made it a top target of her G8 presidency this year.
Officials from industrialised and developing nations are holding behind-the-scenes talks trying to hammer out elements of the framework ahead of talks in Bali, Indonesia, in December.

“We don’t think it is in the bag, but we do think it is possible and we do think the tide is with us. I wouldn’t put it any higher than 50/50 — but that is still quite high,” said an official with a European government in favour of renewing Kyoto.

Not everyone is convinced given that a meeting of UN environment ministers in Nairobi last November ended with the minimal expectations that the Bali meeting might only agree a mandate for talks.

“For Bali a mandate to find a replacement for Kyoto is a best case scenario,” a UN official said.

“The current view is that it will take two years to negotiate a deal and then two years to ratify. Even that will be optimistic if you look at how long it took to ratify Kyoto.”

Planet Ark