China sees the current round of U.N. climate change talks as an opportunity to move forward on decisions that will come next year, but not at the end of the week when the Cancun conference ends, a top Chinese negotiator said Tuesday.
China sees the current round of U.N. climate change talks as an
opportunity to move forward on decisions that will come next year, but not at
the end of the week when the Cancun conference ends, a top Chinese negotiator
said Tuesday.
"It's more important to create a kind of cooperative atmosphere among the
parties at
Cancun
, to avoid a split, to avoid a
big fight,"
China
's No.
2 negotiator, Liu Zhen Min, told Dow Jones Newswires. "We expect there to
be the real fruitful consultations and negotiations next year," Liu said
during an interview.
More than a week into the 12-day talks, most of the nearly 200 nations here
realize a broad
Cancun
accord would be difficult, he
said. One key issue that needs to progress at Cancun is the promise of a $30
billion "quick start" fund for clean energy and other projects in
poor countries that would be financed by industrialized nations, Liu said. Developed
countries "need to agree there will be a quick start," Liu said.
At a separate press briefing, Liu, whose formal title is first deputy head of
delegation, said the
Cancun
talks also must demonstrate
unanimous commitment to the 1997 Kyoto Protocol that serves as a framework for
the global negotiations designed to reduce greenhouse gases and limit global
warming. The protocol establishes legally binding emissions reductions for
industrialized nations. Developing nations are exempt, but agree to take
appropriate steps to limit emissions.
Japan
has
threatened to opt out of the treaty when its first commitment period ends in
2012. Japan has argued in Cancun that the world's two largest producers of
greenhouse gases--China and the U.S.-- are exempt from the treaty since China
is a developing country and the U.S. signed, but never ratified, the Kyoto
Protocol.
Japan
wants
all nations under one binding treaty.
Liu said without
Kyoto
there
will be no framework for negotiations, and it would be difficult to start over
on decades-old climate talks.
The distinction between industrialized nations and developing ones is fair,
since poor nations need more time to industrialize and end poverty before being
bound by emissions limits, Liu said.
China
, with
more than 20% of the world's population, still has 100 million people living in
poverty.
China
has
been adamant that its emissions reduction targets, which it considers
aggressive, must be voluntary and not bound by international treaty.
Liu said a news report that
China
might
offer to submit to an international binding mechanism was erroneous. "This
has been misinterpreted," he said., repeating that
Kyoto
is the
right approach.
The minimum
China
expects out of
Cancun
is "at least nobody will
say they will give it up," referring to the treaty.
Διαβάστε ακόμα
Τρι, 24 Σεπτεμβρίου 2024 - 19:58
Τρι, 24 Σεπτεμβρίου 2024 - 19:54
Τετ, 18 Σεπτεμβρίου 2024 - 18:32
Τετ, 18 Σεπτεμβρίου 2024 - 18:27
Τρι, 17 Σεπτεμβρίου 2024 - 20:01