Nusa Dua, Indonesia (Platts)--13Dec2007
European officials cranked up the pressure on US negotiators Thursday in
an effort to unblock talks over a post-2012 climate change agreement.
Earlier Thursday, German environment minister Sigmar Gabriel was reported
as saying that EU major economies would not attend a US-hosted meeting on
climate change in January without substantive progress in Bali.
US President George W Bush convened the first meeting of the Major
Economies Group this summer to discuss climate change, and a second meeting is
scheduled for January in Hawaii.
Humberto Rosa, the Portuguese secretary of state for environment who is
leading the European delegation in Bali, rejected reports that EU countries
were considering boycotting the US meeting.
"We cherish the Major Economies Meeting," Rosa said. "We believe that it
can contribute to the UN [Framework Convention on Climate Change], and we have
no intention whatsoever of boycotting [it]."
But he said the Major Economies Meeting would be "meaningless" without an
agreement on the "Bali Road Map," the negotiating mandate that is to govern
talks on a post-2012 agreement.
"If we fail in Bali, it would be meaningless to have a MEN. Without a
Road Map, it would be senseless," Rosa said.
Asked whether the EU had yet decided whether to attend the Major
Economies Meeting, Rosa said "We are not blackmailing anyone."
EU 'DISAPPOINTED' AT DRAFT DEADLOCK
Rosa added that the EU was "disappointed" at the lack of progress on the
key issue of whether the Bali Road Map should refer to the Intergovernmental
Panel on Climate Change's advice that developed countries should cut emissions
by 25%-40% from 1990 levels by 2020 to avoid dangerous climate change.
European environment commissioner Stavros Dimas insisted that the EU was
not going to back down on this issue.
"Some of our colleagues in other developed countries have been arguing
that we should not preempt the result of negotiations which will take place
over the next two years," Dimas said.
He was referring to the US' stated position that to include references to
the IPCC's 25%-40% reduction range would "pre-judge the outcome" of the
post-2012 talks.
Dimas said that the reference to the IPCC's figures in the preamble of a
proposed text was an "indispensable part of the Road Map we have to deliver."
He said the EU believes the figures will provide an orientation to the
talks that will take place.
Asked whether a lack of agreement on this issue would prevent a Road Map
being agreed, Dimas said "this is a hypothesis which at the moment I do not
accept."
'SMALL STEPS FORWARD'
Dimas said that there had been some "small steps forward" in other
elements of the talks, specifically an agreement within the UNFCCC to build a
"strategic program" to boost technology transfer to developing countries.
"Today's deal paves the way for the elaboration of a strategic program
under the Global Environment Facility by June 2008," Dimas said. "This is a
very positive development. It will scale up investment in clean technology
transfer."
UNFCCC executive Yvo de Boer said he was "a lot more optimistic" on the
prospects for an agreement on the Road Map after the technology transfer issue
had been agreed.
He said that under the "strategic program," the GEF would work to turn
developing countries' technology requirements reports into concrete project
proposals, and ensure these were structured to meet the criteria of
international financial institutions.
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