Canada, EU persist in bid to discuss climate strategies with US

Montreal (Platts)--5Dec2005

The Canadian and the European Union delegations to the UN climate change
convention are continuing efforts to engage the US in discussions here about
future strategies to control greenhouse gas emissions, despite US insistence
that it has no interest in such talks.

     The discussions would take place under the United Nations Framework
Convention on Climate Change, which does not mandate emission reductions and
which the US has ratified, and not under the Kyoto Protocol, which requires
industrial countries to make specific emission reductions by 2012.

     The Bush Administration is adamantly opposed to mandatory emission
reductions and has rejected the protocol. The Europeans are working to
persuade the US that they do not want to discuss mandatory targets or time
tables but, "rather is seeking to create opportunities for all countries to
help" reduce the risk of climate change, Sarah Hendry, head of the UK
delegation, told a press briefing Monday.

     A Canadian government representative said the goal is to "start a
discussion that would lead to negotiations" which would take place over the
next several years. He acknowledged that the US, "doesn't want to talk about
the future and I can't speculate about what might happen."

     The parties to the protocol are considering a proposal underscoring the
need for industrial countries to make even deeper emissions cuts after the end
of the first Kyoto commitment period in 2012. The protocol requires industrial
countries to reduce their emissions an average 5.2% between 2008 and 2012. A
commitment to deeper reductions would "send? strong signals and reinforce the
developing carbon market," the proposal said.

     The EU has suggested that emissions may have to be cut as much as 30% in
a second commitment period, but specific targets will be the subject of future
negotiations and will not be decided in Montreal. The conference is scheduled
to end Dec 9.

				--Gerry Karey, gerry_karey@platts.com

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