U.N. Measure Calls For More Emissions Cuts

Climate Summit Delegates Debate Document Strengthening Calls To Curb Greenhouse Gases

(AP)  Delegates at the U.N. climate conference debated a new document Tuesday that strengthened calls for deeper cuts in greenhouse gas emissions by rich nations, as U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon warned that the human race faces oblivion if it fails to confront global warming.

Ban, who is presiding over the final days of a conference aimed at setting an agenda and deadline for talks on a pact to replace the Kyoto Protocol in 2012, urged quick action as negotiators haggled over wording that would be acceptable to all.

But a version of a revised text obtained by The Associated Press included guidelines for industrialized countries to cut their emissions overall by 2020 by between 25 percent and 40 percent - sure to anger the United States, which has repeatedly said it opposed inclusion of specific target ranges.

The document also contained a new mention of "quantified national emission limitation and reduction commitments" for industrialized countries.

Ban said the time to act was now.

"The situation is so desperately serious that any delay could push us past the tipping point, beyond which the ecological, financial and human costs would increase dramatically," he said in a speech to delegates.

"We are at a crossroad," he added. "One path leads to a comprehensive climate change agreement, the other to oblivion. The choice is clear."

Talks at the conference, now in its second week, stepped up Tuesday with the arrival of Ban and Australia's new prime minister, Kevin Rudd, who signed onto the Kyoto Protocol just last week. Former U.S. Vice President Al Gore was to arrive Wednesday, days after picking up his Nobel Peace Prize for sounding the alarm over global warming.

The latest document also called on negotiators of the future climate pact to consider "measurable and reportable national mitigation actions by developing country parties," a nod to demands by the United States and others that up-and-coming economies such as China take on commitments to curb pollution.

The draft was certain to be the object of hard negotiations in coming days. The United States has supported only voluntary emissions targets, and was likely to oppose including the word "commitment" - which was not in a previous draft - from the final decision.

Developing nations, meanwhile, have argued wealthy countries should take the first step in battling global warming because historically they have caused the problem. The mention of "action" by poorer countries was likely to attract their opposition.

The latest draft included dozens of changes from the earlier version, suggesting that negotiators were far from reaching agreement on a final wording. In past years, talks on the declaration on the last day have dragged on into the night to the next morning.

Delegates and environmentalists have publicly sparred over the inclusion of emissions guidelines in recent days.

The United States, the only major industrialized nation to reject the Kyoto Protocol, has publicly opposed mentions of targets or emissions cuts guidelines in the Bali document, arguing that it was premature to state goals at such an early date. Negotiations for a post-Kyoto pact are to last at least two years.

The European Union, developing countries and environmentalists, however, have rallied strenuously in favor of including general goals in the Bali declaration.

Stavros Dimas, the European commissioner for environment, said deep emissions cuts were crucial to preventing a devastating increase in global temperatures. The European Union has committed itself to 20 percent to 30 percent reductions below 1990 levels by 2020.

"We need this range of reductions by developed countries," he told reporters Tuesday. "Science tells us that these reductions are necessary. Logic requires that we listen to science."

Australia, despite its sudden embrace last week of the Kyoto pact after years of opposition, has shied away from supporting the emissions goals yet, saying it must await the conclusion of a study sometime next year.

"Our long-term target ... to reduce our greenhouse emissions by 60 percent by 2050 against 2000 levels is an ambitious target," said Rudd, the new prime minister. "We will establish a proper and methodological basis ... to determine an interim target."

Canada and Japan also oppose inclusion of the suggested figures.

The struggle over targets coincided with the 10th anniversary of the signing of the Kyoto accord on Dec. 11, 1997, in Japan. The U.N. cut up a giant birthday cake to mark the occasion.

The Kyoto pact requires 36 industrial nations to reduce carbon dioxide and other industrial, transportation and agricultural gases blamed for global warming by an average 5 percent below 1990 levels in the next five years.

U.S. President George W. Bush, in deciding not to sign on, contended the emissions cuts would harm the U.S. economy, and should have been imposed on China, India and other fast-growing poorer economies.

Japanese Environment Minister Ichiro Kamoshita, whose country is having difficulty meeting its Kyoto targets, made a reference to these difficulties at the pact's "birthday party" in Bali.

"It's only 10 years old yet, it's still a child," he said. "At the age of 10, children can be quite difficult, and so it is with the Kyoto Protocol."

[samsel3]

The Bush administration has rejected reduction of fossile fuel burning citing severe economic impacts.The Cheney energy policy expands US interests in The Caspian Sea region where one third of the world''s oil remains untapped. Big Oil does not want alternative energy because they are profit motivated. Big Oil & Corporate America dictate US policy not the people. We are just pawns in their game.

[samsel3]

The Bush administration has rejected reduction of fossile fuel burning citing severe economic impacts.The Cheney energy policy expands US interests in The Caspian Sea region where one third of the world''s oil remains untapped. Big Oil does not want alternative energy because they are profit motivated. Big Oil & Corporate America dictate US policy not the people. We are just pawns in their game.

[rheola-2009]

Hopefully the UN will give the collective middle finger salute to Clinton and Gore and approve a treaty that will help solve the issue. The Clinton / Gore legacy to our children will be that of eco-terrorists that sat idly by while the earth destroyed itself. The Clinton and Gore names will be synonymous with greedy slime in less than a decade.


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Posted by octavianfdlr at 12:36 PM : Dec 12, 2007

You are obviously becoming desperate in your attempts to defend your totally flawed position.

Try being original, that may help, most apes can imitate.

[co2max]

You would really believe that the world is being destroyed by the current climate behavior? If so, why do you not believe as well that the present state of the world, that of the past 200-1000 years is not already in a state of destruction due to the global warming that has taken place since the start of the Holocene? Perhaps you are only interested in fine-tuning planetary systems so that they serve only human needs and desires. The earth is not our toy. we are lucky to be here at all. Enjoy your time and wait for whatever happens next. It''s fascinating and even exciting to see our planet in action.

[rf35]

I could care less if global warming is real or not, if humans, cows, or geese are responsible, or if anything can be done. I do, however, support clean, renewable electric production; fuel efficient cars, preferably not using gasoline; and limits on carbon emission. I no longer care about climate change%u2026I won%u2019t be around for the really bad stuff. However, I%u2019d like to avoid paying a Muslim in order to drive my car. I%u2019d like to be able to laugh as the Middle East self-destructs and know it will have no effect on the USA whatsoever. I%u2019d like to have an energy independent nation so I don%u2019t have to go back to Iraq, Iran, or any other SW Asian Hell-hole. And mostly, I%u2019d like to breathe cleaner air and look out at my home town from the top of Pikes Peak without that hideous brown cloud ruining the view.

[octavianfdlr]

Hopefully the UN will give the collective middle finger salute to Clinton and Gore and approve a treaty that will help solve the issue. The Clinton / Gore legacy to our children will be that of eco-terrorists that sat idly by while the earth destroyed itself. The Clinton and Gore names will be synonymous with greedy slime in less than a decade.

[afmca]

Hopefully the UN will give the collective middle finger salute to Bush and his oil boys and approve a treaty that will help solve the issue. They need to stop, just like the Demo Congress, in negotiating with his administration. Bush / Cheney''s legacy to our children will be that of eco-terrorists that sat idly by with the earth destroyed itself. The Bush name will be synonymous with greedy slime in less than a decade.

[xlib]

Now would this be the same UN that was heavily involved with the Oil for Food scandal and now a scandal (not covered here) that took money donated for charity organizations that went to North Korea? Is this the organization??
As for global warming, yep, there have been drastic weather changes since time began. Then again, the left doesn''t pay a whole lot of attention to history. They tend to write it as they go along. The funny thing is the total superiority complex of the left that they really, really think we, little humans, can change what is going on.
I also love the fact that they continue to bash the right for even mentioning the threat of terrorism, just the threat. They say we are fear mongering. What a hoot.
There they were, all the elite from the left and Hollywood in Bali, all flying in on private jets, telling us how to live.
Wonder how many squares the goracle needs.

[co2max]

juboy--Good point you made. Just a glace at the headlines stresses the validity of what you have said. I am quite sure that I speak for all in saying that cold is far more insidious that heat, at least for human-confort parameters. Global warming, in the long run does convey implications for us which are serious to consider and will require adaptation, but overall when you consider the expansion of the temperate zones, enhancement of the hydrologic cycle, improvement and stabilization of agricultural activity, plus the generally favorable year-round optimization of meteorological conditions for biotic habitats of nearly all types, it is clear that global warming will continue to be beneficial for many years to come. Just consider how favorable the warming has been for us all over the past 12-15 thousand years!

[juwboy]

Which of the following extreme climate conditions currently causes more deaths?

(A) a cold winter
(B) a hot summer

The answer is (A) by a huge margin.

So, why aren''t we doing everything we possibly can to promote and accelerate global warming until the two numbers are comparable?

That''s when we''ll have the ideal, optimum climate on Earth.

[co2max]

rheola--Yeah, right. I am not a denier. Global warming IS taking place. It is a fact and has been going on for a good 12,000 years or so, though not steadily. Learn some science and you will see clearly that carbon dioxide is not a problem in this world. We actually need the stuff. I look forward to the the day when the CO2 concentration level reaches and exceeds 1000ppm and take not that the world average temperature (whatever that really means) is not a great deal different than it is today.
Truth is, I take the shortest route possible anywhere I go. Costs too much money to go the long way. I hate the traffic in my area and I spend waaaay to much time behind the wheel, unavoidably. I just would like to protest the wonky thinking that stands behind the global warming paranoia.

[rheola-2009]

will not cut my carbon emissions unless I am convinced there is a good reason too. So far, all I detect is coercion and fear infliction. I don''''t respond to those tactics. I''''m driving the long way home tomorrow.


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Posted by CO2Max at 05:40 PM : Dec 11, 2007

Keep up the good work.

Your statement will have surely shown any and all clear thinking persons, that if this is the way the average Climate change denier thinks, then common sense will certainly win out.

[co2max]

So, just somebody explain to me where this Oblivion is? Don''t you climate weirdos ever wise up to reality when the propagandistic, anti-American, UN delegates resort to hype and alarm to advance their cuase. Claiming that we face oblivion is such utter tripe, I find it hard to stop laughing. The gross exaggeration of the situation proclaimed by these maniacs is the best weapon we have to put them down. They''re making their flimsy case against themselves for us.
If you really and truly want to do something to overcome what you think is a run-away planetary greenhouse, I offer you a counter-measure: Place all waste paper (white, of course) not in the trash but lay it all out in the yards and fields. In time all that added reflectivity will enhance the albedo to the point that the earth''s surface will cease being warmed which of course means there will be less radiating heat for the atmospheric greenhouse to trap. Simple, huh? We should paint all the cars and trucks white too, and use only light-colored shingles. And we thought the ancient Greeks and Romans wore white robes just as a fashion statement! They must have been the original Greens!
I will not cut my carbon emissions unless I am convinced there is a good reason too. So far, all I detect is coercion and fear infliction. I don''t respond to those tactics. I''m driving the long way home tomorrow.

[rheola-2009]

Hawksprings.

Is it not time for you to give up, forever backing a loser.

Take that stroll up the track to Damascus, and maybe ye shall be enlightened.

The dissenting Psuedo scientists are forever making noises, exactlt as they are instructed by their masters in the various fossil fuel energy industries.

Unfortunately our great? new leader, who is in Bali, is not making the right noises, though much better than the previous GWB lackey, he appears to be softening his attitude to mandated emission cuts, veryu much to the disappointment of a large number of people over here.
Not sure yet wether he is bowing to the energy industry, or the associated labour unions.

Have a good day, shovelling climate change snow.

They are having a rough time around Oklahoma, aren''t they.

[hawksprings]

Why aren''t the dissenting scientists allowed to have a voice in this?
Isn''t science a search for the truth?

Human-caused Global Warming is nothing more than a political scam.

I hope the delegates enjoyed thier luxury digs at the conference, and the jet-rides home on the CO2 belching airliners.

Enjoy this article that will NEVER make CBSABCMSNBCCNN or Public Radio/TV. (Musn''t have anything that contradicts The Consensus.)

http://epw.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=Minority.Blogs&ContentRecord_id=c9554887-802a-23ad-4303-68f67ebd151c