Brazil, South Africa, India and China said on Saturday that November’s UN climate talks should aim to extend the Kyoto Protocol, the only binding global deal to cut greenhouse gases.
The four key emerging powers — seen as critical to the success of any future effort to combat climate change — said keeping Kyoto alive should be the “central priority” at the key UN summit in South Africa.
The bloc released the statement after two days of talks in Brazil to prepare for the next UN climate conference scheduled to take place in Durban from Nov. 28 to Dec. 9.
The ministers “reaffirmed that the Kyoto Protocol is a cornerstone of the climate change regime,” it said.
Xie Zhenhua (謝振華), a top Chinese climate change official, said he hoped the statement would “send a sign to the international community that we are pursuing efforts to make the Durban conference a success.”
The four countries also said they hoped ministers gathered in Durban would work to get the Green Climate Fund — which aims to channel billions of US dollars in aid to poor countries exposed to climate change — off the ground.
The Durban meeting is seen as the last chance to renew the Kyoto Protocol, whose initial five-year commitment period expires at the end of next year.
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