20100629
allafrica

Johannesburg — December's global climate talks in Cancun, Mexico, should focus on areas where agreements could realistically be reached, leaving the debate on a legal framework for the deal to next year's conference in SA, European Union (EU) climate change commissioner Connie Hedegaard said yesterday.

Her comments add to the growing view it will be up to SA as host to help drive the talks to a binding conclusion. This is after last year's climate conference in Copenhagen failed to reach a new deal to replace the Kyoto Protocol, which expires in 2012.

In April, then United Nations (UN) climate chief Yvo de Boer made similar remarks to the Washington Post, while the main negotiator for Japan's environment ministry, Kunihiko Shimada, told Bloomberg in March that a deal this year was "almost impossible".

At the Group of 20 summit in Toronto last week, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said the world should aim for a "realistic result" in Cancun.

"There is not much new coming out of Beijing and Washington," said Ms Hedegaard at a media breakfast, noting that two of the world's biggest polluters, India and China, were unlikely to commit to emissions targets until the US introduces new energy laws. The EU has already committed to reducing greenhouse gas emissions 20% by 2020 from 1990s levels, and would be willing to increase the cut to 30% if a global agreement on climate change was reached, she said.

She cautioned the Cancun negotiators against wasting time on topics covered in Copenhagen. They should try to reach agreements on specific items, such as conserving forests, that could go into a global treaty.

Ms Hedegaard said the Copenhagen round of talks had not been a complete failure, as they had spurred many individual nations to set targets. "We saw unprecedented global action," she said.

The Copenhagen Accord says the world should aim to contain temperature rise to 2°C, but so far nations have not made sufficient pledges to cut greenhouse emissions to meet this target.

The a ccord was principally drafted by the US, China, India, Brazil and SA and was criticised by nations such as Bolivia, Venezuela, Nicaragua and Cuba for leaving many countries out of the negotiating process.

Ms Hedegaard said the EU would announce in Cancun which projects were to be supported by its 7,2bn share of the 30bn committed in Copenhagen to help the poorest, most vulnerable countries deal with climate change. "It's crucial for developing countries to see it (the money) delivered," she said.

EU member states had agreed they would not create a new financing system for the funds but work with existing channels.