Global Treaty on Climate Change
April 18
Bush’s CO2 Plan Is “Neanderthal” - German Minister
(Planet Ark) BERLIN - US President George W Bush’s plan to halt a rise in US greenhouse gas emissions by 2025 could undermine, rather than support, efforts to combat climate change, German Environment Minister Sigmar Gabriel said.
April 16
Bush Sets Greenhouse Gas Emissions Goal
WASHINGTON — President Bush called Wednesday for the United States to stop the growth of greenhouse gas emissions by 2025 and challenged other countries, including major polluters like China and India, to abandon trade barriers on energy-related technology and commit to goals of their own.
The White House cast Mr. Bush’s announcement … as an ambitious effort by a president determined to lead on the climate change issue, even with just nine months left in office.
But critics — including environmentalists, scientists and lawmakers — said the effort was too little, too late. They accused Mr. Bush of trying to derail legislation that would curb emissions even further. And because he did not offer any specifics for how to reach his 2025 goal, they dismissed the speech as irrelevant.
Bush Urges Halt Of CO2 Emission Growth By 2025
(Reuters Planet Ark) WASHINGTON - While trying to shape global climate change talks in Paris this week and the debate in the US Congress later this year, Bush’s cautious approach on global warming falls far short of European goals and lawmakers’ proposals.
31 March - 4 April 2008, Bangkok, Thailand
Daily coverage from Earth Negotiations Bulletin (ENB)
April 5
Nations agree to look at planes, ships in climate deal
BANGKOK (AFP) — More than 160 nations agreed Friday to consider how to reduce rapidly growing emissions from air and sea travel as they worked toward drafting an ambitious new treaty on global warming.
The late-evening deal came amid signs of a compromise on another sticking point — a Japanese proposal on setting industry standards that developing nations viewed with suspicion.
Rich and poor countries are sharply divided on how to tackle global warming, despite growing fears that rising temperatures could put millions of people at risk by the end of the century.
The five-day conference in Bangkok was tasked with setting the first step to complete a pact by the end of next year to follow the landmark Kyoto Protocol, which requires rich nations to slash gas emissions blamed for warming.
Angry reaction to World Bank climate funds plan
Developing countries and environmental groups expressed staunch opposition Friday to a World Bank plan to assume administration of billions of dollars in climate change aid funding and called for the funds to be handled through the existing United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. Opponents said they were disappointed about a lack of transparency and insufficient involvement of developing countries in the process. AlertNet.org/Reuters (4/4) April 3
Can world afford global warming fight?
(AP/Business Week) BANGKOK, Thailand
With global markets in turmoil and the U.S. threatened by recession, negotiators at a climate change conference are asking: can nations afford to make rapid cuts in emissions to fight global warming without going into an economic tailspin?
The price of slashing the carbon dioxide emissions blamed for global warming is expected to be high, but proponents of firm action argue that delay will cost more in the long run.
April 2
UN-led climate talks complicated by U.S. presidential race
This week’s United Nations-backed climate summit in Bangkok is somewhat clouded by the uncertainty surrounding the stance the U.S. will take toward global warming after a new president takes over the White House next year, the Associated Press reports. The U.S. says it is sincerely engaged in the ongoing discussions, but negotiators from other countries are less convinced and wonder how the atmosphere may change with a new U.S. leadership. USA TODAY/Associated Press (4/2)
April 1
Canada’s submission to UN climate change conference ‘deceitful’: critics
Mike De Souza, Canwest News Service
OTTAWA - The Harper government is being accused of misleading the world about the toughness of its plan to force industry to bury greenhouse gas emissions underground.
March 31
Delegates begin climate-change talks in Bangkok
(IHT) The talks, which are scheduled to conclude at the end of 2009, come three months after a rancorous meeting in Indonesia that exposed deep fissures in how countries plan to battle global warming.
No breakthroughs are expected at the week-long meeting in Bangkok, which is mainly intended to lay out the agenda for a series of subsequent sessions.
One of the main challenges for negotiators over the next 21 months will be reintroducing the United States into a global system of emissions reductions. The United States signed but never ratified the Kyoto Protocol, the 1997 agreement that binds wealthy countries to specific cuts in greenhouse gases. The new treaty would replace the Kyoto Protocol, although some provisions of the previous treaty would remain.
Angela Anderson, director of the global warming program at the Pew Charitable Trusts, an American nonpartisan organization, said that negotiators were watching the U.S. election campaign closely for signs of future changes in U.S. climate change policy.
Chinese proposal on climate funding gets U.S.’ thumbs down
A proposal by China that would have developed countries contribute 0.5% of their GDP every year towards the global fight against climate change is not reasonable, the U.S. climate negotiator Harlan Watson said at the United Nations-led meeting in Bangkok. But he also added that the proposal is an “interesting suggestion. I am sure we will have a discussion on that.” Bloomberg (3/31)
UN-led summit starts tackling new climate change deal
Delegates from 163 countries on Monday began negotiations at a United Nations-led summit in Bangkok, to hammer out a global consensus on climate change that will produce the successor to the Kyoto Treaty. The week-long meeting is certain to generate debate on such issues as how rich nations best can help poor countries deal with the effects of global warming. CNN/Associated Press (3/31)
Blair to lead campaign on climate change
Tony Blair is to lead a new international team to tackle the intractable problem of securing a global deal on climate change which would have the backing of China and America.
The former prime minister believes he can help prepare a blueprint for an agreement to cut carbon emissions by 50% by 2050, and has the backing of the White House, the UN and Europe, including Gordon Brown.
He told the Guardian he has been working on the project with a group of climate change experts since he left office last summer, and will publish an interim report to the G8 group of industrialised nations this summer.
“This is extremely urgent. A 50% cut by 2050 has to be a central component of this. We have to try this year to get that agreed, because the moment you do agree that, then you have something for everyone to focus upon. We need a true and proper global deal, and that needs to include America and China,” Blair said.
