Hopes suddenly rose on Friday that a new global climate pact was within reach after rich nations attending a Commonwealth summit in the capital of Trinidad offered to pay poorer countries to help seal the deal.
“Success in Copenhagen is in sight,” UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said, referring to the climate negotiations to take place in the Danish capital between Dec. 7 and Dec. 18.
Ban and Danish Prime Minister Lars Loekke Rasmussen, both making exceptional appearances at the Trinidad summit despite not being Commonwealth members, said how encouraged they were by the UK and France offering to start a US$10 billion fund for developing nations.
By showing willingness to meet “the need for money on the table,” it was now “realistic” to expect Copenhagen to result in the framework for a treaty to succeed the Kyoto Protocol that expires in 2012, Rasmussen said.
“Copenhagen will not be a talk shop,” Ban said. “We will come out with a very concrete foundation for a legally binding treaty.”
The sudden optimism contrasted sharply with predictions of failure at the climate talks as recently as two weeks ago.
The willingness of developed countries to ante up bolstered other moves that suggested nations were determined to reach an accord.
Important among those were carbon cut pledges by almost all the nations most responsible for greenhouse gas emissions.
China, the world’s biggest polluter, has vowed to reduce “carbon intensity” as measured by unit of GDP by between 40 percent and 45 percent by 2020, compared with 2005 levels.
The US, the other major contributor to global warming, is looking at curbing carbon emissions by 17 percent from 2005 levels by 2020.
The EU is unilaterally cutting emissions by 20 percent by 2020 compared with 1990 level, and is offering to go to 30 percent if other industrialized parties follow suit.
Brazil, the fourth-biggest greenhouse gas contributor because of deforestation, has offered a reduction of between 36 percent and 39 percent based on its projected economic output in 2020.
Alone of the big polluting nations, India has not revealed any emissions cut targets.
After meeting Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in Trinidad, however, French President Nicolas Sarkozy said that he was confident “they will put some figures on the table” within days.
RSS