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Climate report faces obstacles

Delegates to a climate change conference rushed yesterday to finish a report mapping out measures to combat global warming, confident they can overcome China's objections about the cost and urgency of acting quickly, delegates said.

A report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change -- the UN network of 2,000 scientists -- on how the world should cope with global warming was being debated in secret this week by delegates from more than 120 governments.

A final version expected today will warn of catastrophe unless the world acts quickly to stem climate change.

The report is expected to urge countries to deploy various measures -- including energy-efficient technologies, a shift away from coal, and agricultural reforms -- to keep world temperatures from rising more than 2oC, thereby limiting the impact of global warming.

China, the world's second biggest emitter of greenhouse gases after the US, has indicated it wants the report to better reflect its belief that richer countries are responsible for global warming and should take the lead in cleaning up the problem, delegates said.

A member for the Chinese delegation refused to discuss specifics of their demands, other than to say they wanted the "truth of the science" to be reflected in the document.

It has also joined up with the US, according to comments submitted ahead of the meeting, to suggest the proposed cap on greenhouse gas levels is too low and reaching the target would be too expensive.

The two countries are expected to attempt to insert language into the final report that would weaken the conclusion that quick action can stabilize greenhouse gas levels.

India, for its part, has raised objections to language in the report that says significant emission cuts can be made in developing countries, delegates said. Instead, it has argued to strike such language as part of its demands that development must come ahead of caps on emissions.

Delegates, though, said most of the objections from India and China -- often efforts to strike language altogether versus amending it -- have been overcome so far as scientists provided proof on such basic issues as how mitigation measures corresponded to various emission levels.

"It's going more smoothly than we anticipated," said Michel Petit, a French delegate who expected the report to be completed early today.

Delegates also are debating different categories of energy use and ways to cut emissions as they went through a draft of the report summary, and were working into the night so negotiations could be wrapped up yesterday.

One contentious issue has been whether and how to refer to nuclear power in the final summary. The US, for instance, is pushing for a strong reference to atomic energy as a clean source of electricity.

Many environmentalists consider atomic energy too dangerous and costly.

"We don't believe that nuclear is a solution," Stephan Singer of the World Wildlife Fund said.
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