Energy & Environment

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17 December 2007
U.N. Climate Change Plan Seen as First Step

By Lea Terhune
USINFO Staff Writer

Washington -- The climate change mitigation plan adopted by a U.N. conference in Bali, Indonesia, is "a good set of elements...on mitigation, adaptation, technology and finance to guide important considerations," lead U.S. negotiator Paula Dobriansky says, adding it is a first step "in beginning an important discussion about how to achieve a truly global solution."

"We’ve listened very closely to many of our colleagues here during these two weeks, but especially to what has been said in this hall today," Dobriansky told the delegates earlier. "We will go forward and join consensus." The American delegation was sharply criticized for its stance during negotiations. Dobriansky is under secretary of state for democracy and global affairs.

Two contentious weeks of climate change negotiations among nearly 190 nations on the Indonesian island of Bali delivered a "Bali Roadmap," but the path is not as clearly marked as some at the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) conference would like.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said the road map is "a pivotal first step toward an agreement that can address the threat of climate change, the defining challenge of our time." His statement came after the action plan was adopted December 15, a day after talks were slated to end.

"This is the beginning, not the end," he told the Associated Press, predicting, "We will have to engage in more complex, long and difficult negotiations."

A last-minute compromise, the Bali Action Plan sketches ways to negotiate the path ahead.

White House press secretary Dana Perino expressed "serious concerns" about aspects of the plan, saying "climate change cannot be adequately addressed through commitments for emissions cuts by developed countries alone. Major developing economies must likewise act." She added, "[N]egotiations must clearly differentiate among developing countries in terms of the size of their economies." Parties must "negotiate commitments consistent with their national circumstances."

The Bali Action Plan states "deep cuts in global emissions will be required to achieve the ultimate objective of the Convention," and emphasizes "the urgency to address climate change" underscored by the Nobel prize-winning Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). The 2007 panel report, which drew on international research by hundreds of scientists, determined global warming is unequivocal and more rapid than expected, making prompt action essential.

The Bali plan is "a shared vision for long-term cooperative action," with a global goal for emissions reductions, without specific numeric guidelines. These were left out in response to adamant U.S. opposition to including a suggestion of a 25 percent to 40 percent reduction from 1990 levels of heat trapping carbon dioxide emissions by 2020. Canada, Japan and Russia also argued against it.

The plan allows for common but differentiated responsibilities, appropriate to national circumstances, which are "measurable, reportable and verifiable."

Incentives are to be offered to encourage developing countries to curb destructive practices such as deforestation, a problem in South America and Southeast Asia.

Technological and financial support to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions and adapt to the irreversible effects of climate change in developing countries are also in the action plan. The parties agreed that the process should start "without delay."

The Bali plan aims to negotiate a successor to the Kyoto Protocol, which expires in 2012. Since the protocol was first implemented, alarming scientific data have given urgency to reduction of climate-altering activities. The recommendation for emissions reduction of 25 percent to 40 percent by 2020 -- halved by 2050 -- came from the 2007 IPPC report.

"It would have been nice to have had those goals included more explicitly," Dan Howells, deputy director for climate at the National Environmental Trust, an independent, Washington-based advocacy group, said. The Bali plan includes a footnote reference to the IPCC recommendation.

Engagement of countries in negotiations for a new framework was "a big step," he said. The commitment to curb deforestation and having the IPCC report as "the frame for the way discussion will go over the next two years" are positive outcomes, he added.

With increased discussion of climate change among candidates campaigning for the White House in 2008, Howells said, "I would be optimistic that a change in the administration might help move things forward as far as the U.S. being involved in the negotiations and taking more of a leadership role."

He added that environmental groups hope "the U.S. will play a constructive role over the next two years in the deliberations and we can solve the problem of climate change."

The parties to the UNFCCC conference have committed to meet as often as "necessary and feasible" to negotiate more specific measures by the end of 2009.

More information on the Bali conference is available on a U.N. Web site.

The full text of a White House statement on the conference is available on USINFO.

For more information, see Climate Change and Clean Energy.

(USINFO is produced by the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)

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