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Climate talks stalled amid rows Climate talks 'on brink' of deal
(about 3 hours later)
Talks at the UN climate summit in Bali have continued past their scheduled end despite optimism that a compromise could be reached between the EU and US. The UN climate summit in Bali is "on the brink" of a deal, according to the UN's senior climate official, as talks look set to extend into an extra day.
The EU has been pressing for the final text to include a specific commitment that industrialised nations should cut their emissions by 25-40% by 2020. The EU has been pressing for a final text committing industrialised nations to specified emissions cuts, but the US, Canada and Japan are opposed.
The US and Canada oppose firm cuts and neither side shows signs of giving way. Some developing countries said they were being pressurised to accept cuts in their own emissions.
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said he was returning to the talks from East Timor to assist negotiators. Agreement has been reached on other issues such as slowing deforestation.
Everybody is working hard towards a result, and nobody wants to be the country that makes it fail Yvo de Boer, UN Q and A: Bali summit class="" href="http://newsforums.bbc.co.uk/nol/thread.jspa?forumID=3924&edition=1">Send us your comments "I will go back to Bali tomorrow [Saturday] morning again to meet with the delegations... and engage myself in continuing further negotiations," he told a press briefing in the capital, Dili. The climate in the conference is good, and we will have success in the end Sigmar Gabriel, Germany's Environment Minister Q and A: Bali summit UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said he was returning to the talks from East Timor to assist negotiators.
The Indonesian hosts of the climate summit have been trying to bridge the gulf between the two sides with a text that reportedly excluded firm numerical targets for 2020, but did contain acceptances that greenhouse gas emissions need to be stabilised by the end of the next decade and that rich nations should play the major part in the effort. Speaking in the East Timorese capital Dili, Mr Ban said: "I will go back to Bali tomorrow [Saturday] morning again to meet with the delegations... and engage myself in continuing further negotiations."
Neither the EU nor the US has formally accepted the compromise wording. But Yvo de Boer, executive secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), hinted Mr Ban's intervention might not be needed.
Though senior players on both sides have suggested agreement is likely, it appears that many hours of further discussion may lie ahead. "(We are) on the brink of agreement, I think," he said.
'Good climate' "Absolutely not deadlocked; people are working very hard to resolve outstanding issues."
Bumpy roadmap
The key aim of the summit is to set negotiations in train that will eventually lead to a successor to the Kyoto Protocol. Its targets for reducing emissions expire in 2012.
EU negotiators want this "Bali roadmap" to contain a commitment that industrialised nations will cut their emissions by 25-40% compared to 1990 levels by 2020.
The US and its allies prefer a voluntary, non-binding approach.
The Indonesian hosts have been trying to bridge the gulf between the two sides with a text that excluded firm numerical targets for 2020, but did contain acceptances that greenhouse gas emissions need to be stabilised by the end of the next decade and that rich nations should play the major part in the effort.
Planet Bali's parallel worlds Neither EU nor US has accepted the text; but as talks continued beyond the scheduled close, delegates from both blocs said agreement was possible.
"I think the situation is good, and the climate in the climate conference is good, and we will have success in the end," Germany's Environment Minister Sigmar Gabriel told reporters."I think the situation is good, and the climate in the climate conference is good, and we will have success in the end," Germany's Environment Minister Sigmar Gabriel told reporters.
class="" href="/1/hi/sci/tech/7143071.stm">Planet Bali's parallel worlds The chief US negotiator Harlan Watson told the AFP news agency: "I'm always optimistic. I think we will have an agreement." The chief US negotiator Harlan Watson told the AFP news agency: "I'm always optimistic. I think we will have an agreement."
And the executive secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Yvo de Boer, who had earlier expressed concerns about the slow pace of talks, said it was unlikely that the meeting would end without an agreement. Both the European and US/Canada blocs have suggested over the last two weeks that at some point, developing countries would need to look at limiting their carbon emissions.
"It's possible but it won't happen," he said. Some developing country delegates complained they had been put under "strong pressure" to curb their emissions, according to Munir Akram, UN ambassador for Pakistan who chairs the G-77 bloc of nations.
"It won't happen because such public pressure has been built to deliver a result here, I do not believe ministers will be able to leave this conference without a political answer to the scientific message they have received. "The developing countries so far have successfully resisted the kinds of pressures and even threats which we have faced to undertake commitments," he said.
"Everybody is working hard towards a result, nobody wants to see it fail and nobody wants to be the country that makes it fail." Mr Munir hinted that "threats" had come in the form of trade sanctions .
Big emitters 'Good climate'
The talks are aiming to begin a process - the "Bali roadmap" - that will eventually lead to a treaty replacing the Kyoto Protocol when its current targets expire in 2012. Away from the issue of emissions cuts, provisional agreement was reached on several ingredients of the Bali roadmap, including paying poorer countries to protect their forests.
The US, Canada and Japan have consistently opposed EU nations' demands for concrete targets to be included at this stage. This is widely acknowledged as the cheapest single way of curbing climate change, and brings benefits in other environmental areas such as biodiversity and fresh water conservation.
My own country, the United States, is principally responsible for obstructing progress in Bali Al Gore The US delegation in Bali has come under widespread criticism from environmental advocates. The Bush administration is well out of step with the American population, and increasingly out of step with US business Chris Miller, Greenpeace class="" href="http://newsforums.bbc.co.uk/nol/thread.jspa?forumID=3924&edition=1">Send us your comments Delegates agreed on a framework that could allow richer nations and companies to earn "carbon credits" by paying for forest protection in developing countries.
And on Thursday, EU ministers threatened to boycott a US-led climate summit for major emitters next month unless the Bush administration backed binding emissions targets. "We need to find a new mechanism that values standing forests," said Andrew Mitchell, executive director of the Global Canopy Programme, an alliance of research institutions.
That summit, in Honolulu, will be the second gathering of the "major economies" or "big emitters" group, an initiative established by the Bush administration in September. "Ultimately, if this does its job, (deforestation) goes down to nothing."
It works on the basis of voluntary emissions targets, and is widely seen in environmental groups as a distraction from the UN process. Mr Mitchell said the only feasible source of sufficient funds was a global carbon market.
Among those criticising the US was Nobel laureate and former Vice-President Al Gore, who spoke to a packed hall on Thursday. But many economists believe mandatory emissions targets are needed to create a meaningful global market.
Mr Gore won loud applause from delegates as he said: "My own country, the United States, is principally responsible for obstructing progress in Bali." 'Out of step'
But the Nobel Peace Prize laureate also urged delegates not to give up, reminding them that the US presidential election in 2008 could herald a new approach in Washington. Environmental groups sought to maintain pressure on the US as the talks overran their scheduled end.
"Over the next two years the United States is going to be somewhere it is not now. You must anticipate that," he said. "The Bush administration is well out of step with the American population, and increasingly out of step with US business," Chris Miller of Greenpeace told BBC News.
"It's our hope that Europe, developing countries, China and the G-77 stay strong and keep up the pressure on the Bush administration."
'No more coal' plea to Brown The US is the world's biggest emitter of greenhouse gases, and most parties recognise that climate change talks without it would be meaningless.'No more coal' plea to Brown The US is the world's biggest emitter of greenhouse gases, and most parties recognise that climate change talks without it would be meaningless.
Meanwhile, a leading US climate scientist told the BBC he was writing to UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown and Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel asking them to block construction of coal-fired power stations.Meanwhile, a leading US climate scientist told the BBC he was writing to UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown and Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel asking them to block construction of coal-fired power stations.
James Hansen says that Britain's early industrialisation means it has probably produced more greenhouse gases than any other nation.James Hansen says that Britain's early industrialisation means it has probably produced more greenhouse gases than any other nation.