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Obama calls for climate pact with 'immediate' effect

Last chance prep talks wrap up ahead of Copenhagen
Copenhagen (AFP) Nov 17, 2009 - Environment ministers from 44 key countries on Tuesday wrapped up closed-door talks aimed at laying the groundwork for a political agreement at next month's UN conference on global warming. Danish Climate Minister Connie Hedegaard described the meeting as "very constructive." Delegations included major greenhouse gas emitters, including China, the United States, India and Brazil, as well as several island nations and African states that are among the poorest in the world and most vulnerable to climate change. The two-day talks were held ahead of the December 7-18 summit which aims to reach a post-2012 deal for slashing greenhouse gas emissions and easing the impact of likely droughts, floods, storms and rising seas unleashed by disrupted weather systems. But the 192 members of the UN's Framework Convention on Climate Change remain deadlocked after two years of negotiations. "This was not a decision-making forum, but the ministers realise that we have come very close to the deadline. We have to come to an agreement that will not be partial, but total," Hedegaard said.

"The (discussion) process doesn't continue forever," she added. UN climate chief Yvo de Boer, also present at the talks, said the United States would play a key role in clinching a successful agreement in Copenhagen in December, but stressed that it was not all up to Washington. "The United States is an important key to success, but it is not the only key," he said. "We need more ambition from industrialised countries in order to achieve the scientific recommendation" to slash greenhouse gas emissions, he told reporters. French Ecology Minister Jean-Louis Borloo meanwhile slammed the lack of US progress on emission reductions. "We have a clear problem with our American friends," he told AFP on the sidelines of the meeting. "The world's greatest power, which pollutes the most per capita, has to commit more" to reducing its emissions, he added. Developing nations have called for wealthy economies to cut their emissions by at least 40 percent by 2020 compared with 1990 levels and to provide around one percent of their gross domestic product (GDP) per year, or around 400 billion dollars (270 billion euros), in finance.

So far, no rich country has come anywhere close to meeting such a demand. They, in turn, are pressing emerging giants such as China, India and Brazil to strengthen promises to tackle their own greenhouse gas output. Danish Prime Minister Lars Loekke Rasmussen, speaking on the sidelines of the meeting, lauded Chinese and US support for his country's push to reach a politically binding agreement at the UN conference. "I am glad that the Danish strategy was supported today in Beijing at the Chinese-American summit ... it confirms that we have taken the right stance," Rasmussen told reporters.

US President Barack Obama said Tuesday China and the US wanted the Copenhagen conference to culminate in a global accord that had "immediate operational effect." We "agreed to work toward a successful outcome in Copenhagen," Obama said after talks with Chinese President Hu Jintao in Beijing. Rasmussen said the agreement reached in the Danish capital should be "substantial and concrete, covering all fields," adding it should become legally binding "as soon as possible." China and the United States together account for 37.5 percent of global emissions of the six main greenhouse gases, according to the World Resources Institute. Their positions are seen as key to the outcome of the Copenhagen conference, a two-year process that aims at building a post-2012 global treaty on tackling climate change.

by Staff Writers
Beijing (AFP) Nov 17, 2009
US President Barack Obama said Tuesday that the United States and China want next month's climate change talks in Copenhagen to culminate in a global accord that has "immediate operational effect."

We "agreed to work toward a successful outcome in Copenhagen," Obama told journalists after talks with Chinese President Hu Jintao.

"Our aim there is... not a partial accord or a political declaration, but rather an accord that covers all the issues in the negotiations and one that has immediate operational effect."

"This kind of comprehensive agreement would be an important step forward in our effort to rally the world around a solution to our climate challenge," Obama said.

Obama gave no further details and a joint statement released after the two leaders spoke merely reiterated support for earlier UN goals on climate change.

On Sunday, Asia-Pacific leaders, including Obama and Hu, acknowledged it would be unrealistic to reach a legally binding agreement at the December 7-18 conference.

Ministers from 42 countries were wrapping up a meeting in the Danish capital on Tuesday, assessing a proposal by Denmark to end the deadlock.

A diplomatic source in Copenhagen said a proposed end-of-summit statement would include a pledge of "fast-track" finance -- funds to help poor countries cope with the impacts of global warming and move to lower-carbon energy.

The money could be disbursed swiftly, before a fully-fledged treaty is sealed next year, according to the Danish idea.

China and the United States are the world's No. 1 and No. 2 carbon polluters, accounting together for 37.5 percent of global emissions of the six main greenhouse gases, according to the World Resources Institute (WRI).

Their positions are key to the outcome of the Copenhagen conference, a two-year process that aims at building a post-2012 planet-wide treaty on tackling climate change.

China argues that rich nations bear historical responsibility for triggering climate change and that developing nations should not be legally bound to cut carbon emissions blamed for rising temperatures.

The United States meanwhile has called for more aggressive mitigation steps by China.

Obama said China and the United States had agreed to take significant steps to reduce carbon emissions, but gave no specifics.

"We agreed that each of us would take significant mitigation actions and stand behind these commitments," Obama said as Hu looked on.

"As the two largest consumers and producers of energy, there can be no solution to this challenge without the efforts of both China and the United States."

Hu also said the two leaders had agreed to work toward an accord in Copenhagen, while repeating Beijing's insistence on the different "responsibilities" rich and poor nations have in addressing climate change.

"We also agreed to act on the basis of common but differentiated responsibilities and consistent with our respective capabilities to work with other parties concerned to help produce positive outcomes from the Copenhagen conference," he said.

China points out that its per capita emissions, though growing fast, remain much lower than those of the United States due to its huge population of 1.3 billion people.

Hu told a September summit at the United Nations that China would reduce the intensity of its carbon emissions as a percentage of economic growth by a "notable margin" by 2020 from their 2005 levels.

Environmental group Greenpeace released a statement after the Hu-Obama talks criticising the US president for a continued "lack of leadership."

"In the lead-up to Copenhagen, Obama is still failing to address the most important issue that is causing the disagreements between the two countries at the climate talks, which is the absence of an emission reduction target from the US," said Kyle Ash, legislative director for Greenpeace USA.

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US Senate to act on climate bill in 2010
Washington (AFP) Nov 17, 2009
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