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CLIMATE SCIENCE
Climate: no 'Plan B' for Copenhagen summit, says Danish minister

Indian FM urges 'ambitious but fair' climate targets
India's foreign minister on Friday called for an ambitious but fair greenhouse gas reduction target under a new climate treaty, saying any pact should not hinder the economic growth of developing countries. "We agreed that climate change is an important global challenge," Foreign Minister S.M. Krishna said in Tokyo after meeting his Japanese counterpart Hirofumi Nakasone during a four-day visit. "We hope that all countries will participate constructively," he told a joint news conference. However, Krishna stressed the need for "an ambitious and at the same time equitable and fair outcome at Copenhagen in 2009 which ensures that developing countries are able to continue their economic growth at an accelerated pace." A December summit in the Danish capital is intended to secure a new international agreement on climate change to replace the Kyoto Protocol, which expires in 2012. India -- like fellow developing heavyweight China -- has refused to commit to emission cuts in the new treaty until developed nations, particularly the United States, present sufficient targets of their own. Nakasone called on India to take the lead in persuading developing countries to join the new treaty. "I expressed my hope and expectations for India to exercise its leadership even more positively and comprehensively," he said. "The minister and I shared the view that we should step up our bilateral dialogue on this issue." Japan last month said it plans to cut its own greenhouse gas emissions by the equivalent of eight percent from 1990 levels by the end of the next decade, a goal attacked as too little by environmentalists. The two foreign ministers also agreed that the world should step up pressure on North Korea by implementing UN sanctions over its nuclear weapons and missile tests. "We shared the view that North Korea's nuclear weapons and missile development is a threat to the international community," Nakasone said. Krishna's visit was the first to Japan by an Indian minister since Prime Minister Manmohan Singh named his new cabinet in May.
by Staff Writers
 Ilulissat, Greenland (AFP) July 4, 2009
 Denmark's Minister for Climate Connie Hedegaard said here Friday there was no "Plan B" if negotiations broke down for an ambitious climate accord at a December world summit in Copenhagen.

"It's clear, we are not working for a Plan B," Hedegaard said after a ministerial meeting of 29 countries from all continents to boost the talks that she said were going too slowly.

"To seal a deal in Copenhagen is a political challenge, not a technical one," Hedegaard said at a press conference in this western Greenland town, adding that the Greenland Dialogue launched by Denmark in 2005 was providing "political guidance" to the negotiations.

"On emission reductions, participants agreed that developed countries should explore how they can strengthen the ambition of their contribition and that developing countries' action must be strengthened -- all in order to meet the demands of science," the minister said.

"The world will be watching: strong leaders' guidance to the negotiations is urgently needed. Leaders bear an immense responsibility to provide this guidance now."

She admitted that "there are many obstacles, even some very big obstacles" and "there is not so much finance on the table" from the rich to the poor countries.

Brazil's Environment Minister Carlos Minc told AFP: "The developed countries ask us for extra efforts when they themselves haven't applied the Kyoto Protocol." Everyone was waiting for a "strong signal" from the developed countries to help the others, he said.

UN climate chief Yvo de Boer told AFP that a "good result" could be achieved in Copenhagen.

"The number of very key political issues which need to be resolved is not terribly long," he said.

"We need clarity on rich countries' target, we would need clarity on what major developing countries will do to limit the growth of their emissions and we need clarity on finance and we need a new system to manage financial resources in the international level. There are basically the issues which need to be resolved in Copenhagen."

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