Time For Action
December 12, 2007
Representatives from some 190 countries on the Indonesian island of Bali aim by the close of the UN climate conference on Friday, Dec. 14, to lay the foundation for a successor to the Kyoto Protocol, which expires in 2012.
"We gather because the time for equivocation is over," said Ban on Tuesday from Bali, where security had been tightened after a car bomb attack at UN offices in Algeria killed dozens of people, including at least 11 UN staff members.
"You need to set an agenda -- a road map to a more secure climate future, coupled with a tight timeline that produces a deal by 2009."
The details of the "road map" to be set at the conference would be hammered out over the next two years, giving ratifying nations time to ink the deal before Kyoto expires.
"We must ensure an incentive structure for countries, businesses and individuals," said the UN chief. "There is no trade-off between fighting climate change and pursuing development. In the long run, we can prosper only by doing both."
He added that, by being creative, it would be possible to reduce harmful greenhouse-gas emissions while promoting economic growth at the same time: "In this sense, climate change is a much an opportunity as it is a threat. It is our chance to usher in a new age of green economics and truly sustainable development."
EU goal rebutted by US, others
Germany and the European Union want the world's industrialized countries to commit to a 25 to 40 percent reduction in carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions by 2020, compared to 1990 levels.
However, the US, Japan and Canada have resisted this plan. Since Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd submitted his country's ratification of the Kyoto Protocol earlier this week, the United States is the only remaining industrialized nation not to sign the document.
The US has traditionally advocated voluntary commitments instead of an international binding agreement.
"We want to be sure that the text [of a new climate agreement] that we have before us is going to be neutral -- it will leave all options on the table and, again, will not prejudge outcomes, which should be something that comes at the end of the two-year process," said US negotiator Harlan Watson.
Such high figures for emission reduction are essential for wealthier countries to show emerging nations they are serious about tackling climate change, countered Germany's Environment Minister Sigmar Gabriel, who arrived in Bali on Tuesday and is scheduled to hold a speech on Wednesday.
How to involve developing and emerging countries in climate change improvements and equip them with the necessary earth-friendly technology have been unresolved issues in the discussion.
Ban warns against failure of talks
Ban reminded delegates that world leaders in September had called for a breakthrough at the conference.
"If we leave Bali without such a breakthrough, we will not only have failed our leaders, but also those who look to us to find solutions, namely, the peoples of this world," he said.