Danish hosts re-launched UN climate talks yesterday after the US backed a US$100 billion global fund to support poor countries and world leaders gathered for a final effort to reach a deal.
Ministers urged action as Danish Prime Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen dropped plans to present his own proposed draft texts, which had stalled the process for more than 24 hours — developing countries had insisted everyone should be involved.
“The United States is prepared to work with other countries toward a goal of jointly mobilizing US$100 billion a year by 2020 to address the climate change needs of developing countries,” US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told a news conference.
The EU has proposed a US$150 billion global fund, and the head of the African group of countries, Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi, on Wednesday supported climate aid for the world’s poorest of US$100 billion.
Agreement on a climate fund could add political drive to the UN talks that meant to agree a host of other measures today, from saving rainforests to boosting carbon markets and stiffening global carbon emissions cuts.
Denmark’s Rasmussen removed one obstacle to the talks yesterday, withdrawing his disputed plan to nominate small groups of countries to storm through complex texts littered with long lists of options.
Negotiators have nearly run out of time to present world leaders with intelligible drafts to sign at the end of the meeting that lasted from Dec. 7 to today.
“The conference is now at a critical juncture and we have now agreed how to proceed,” Rasmussen said. “We now rely on the willingness of all parties to take that extra step to make that deal that is expected of us.”
Earlier yesterday, prospects for a strong UN climate pact appeared remote at the climax of two-year talks as ministers and leaders blamed leading emitters China and the US for deadlock on carbon cuts. But ministers and leaders urged fresh urgency.
“Copenhagen is too important to fail,” Chinaese climate change ambassador Yu Qingtai (于慶泰) said, adding that the presence of Premier Wen Jiabao (溫家寶), who arrived in Copenhagen on Wednesday evening, was testament to China’s commitment.
“China is not interested in becoming a party to the efforts by some people to try to blame other countries for ‘a failure’ at Copenhagen,” Yu said.
Indian Environment minister Jairam Ramesh accused rich countries of planning a “propaganda campaign” to blame developing nations for any breakdown.
“We are in the end game. It’s only a matter of time before the blame game starts,” Ramesh said.
Clinton said that any US contribution to a global US$100 billion fund for the world’s poor depended on developing nations standing behind their actions to curb growth in emissions under a new pact to replace the Kyoto Protocol after 2012.
Clinton said unless developing nations, specifically China, committed to transparency on their emissions curbs, a deal would fail.
Dozens of heads of state arrived in the Danish capital to address the conference.
The summit is meant to agree a global climate deal as a basis for a legally binding treaty next year to succeed the Kyoto Protocol after 2012, which is meant to avoid dangerous climate change and drive a greener global economy less dependent on fossil fuels.
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