Deal Would See Rich Nations Making Big Emissions Cuts
The UN climate talks have produced the first official draft blueprint for a deal that would set targets for limiting global warming to 2.7 or 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit, AFP reported.
So far several small island states and many African nations that are badly threatened by climate change have embraced the lower temperature goal, while the higher target has been supported by rich industrialized nations and emerging giants such as China, India and Brazil.
The temperatures relate to a total rise in warming over pre-industrial times.
Environment ministers from around the world will soon be receiving the draft so that they can work out any ongoing issues before it is endorsed at a summit meeting on December 18.
The 194-nation UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) is hosting the talks that could lead to a political agreement in Copenhagen that would be followed by meetings next year to flesh out key details.
Once current pledges expire under the UNFCCC’s Kyoto Protocol, the envisioned global pact would take effect in 2013.
The Ad-hoc Working Group on Long-Term Cooperative Action, or AWG-LCA, one of the two negotiating pools in the 12-day talks in Copenhagen, put forward the proposed draft as an effort to spell out a "shared vision" for combating climate change over the next several decades.
However, many brackets in the draft denote disagreement, such as one that questions the target for warming.
"Parties shall cooperate to avoid dangerous climate change, in keeping with the ultimate objective of the Convention, recognizing [the broad scientific view] that the increase in global average temperature above pre-industrial levels ought not to exceed [2 C] [1.5 C]," it read.
The three possible targets for the overall reduction of global carbon emissions by 2020, compared with 1990 levels, were left open to 50 percent, 80 percent or 95 percent.
But major emerging economies led by China have baulked at any such target unless it is made clear that rich countries will assume the near totality of the burden.
Industrialized countries favor the 50 percent goal.
Meanwhile, rich nations have favored the bracketed options for CO2 cuts by 2050 in the text range from 75-85 percent, "at least 80-95 percent", and "more than 95 percent", all measured against the same 1990 benchmark.
British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said there are few moments in history when nations are summoned to common decisions that will “reshape the lives of men and women potentially for generations to come.”
"It’s time to begin to focus on the big picture. The serious discussion on finance and targets has begun," said Yvo de Boer, the top U.N. climate official.
He warned that the world deal in Copenhagen must be ambitious, global, comprehensive and legally binding within six months.
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