UN CLIMATE CHANGE SUMMIT:The US opposes specific targets in the Bali mandate, writes Frank McDonald, Environment Editor, in Bali
Hard bargaining has finally got under way at the UN climate change conference on the draft text of a "Bali mandate" to begin negotiations with a view to securing a comprehensive agreement by the end of 2009 on how to tackle global warming.
After a full week of dialogue, and some shadow boxing, among senior officials from 190 countries, the bargaining was entrusted yesterday afternoon to a representative working group of 40 UN member states to see if a consensus could be reached here.
The draft text, officially a "non-paper" in UN language, sets 2009 as the deadline for completing negotiations on a new climate change regime to succeed the Kyoto Protocol and specifically mentions a range of 25 to 40 per cent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2020.
This is the range of cuts proposed by the European Union to avert dangerous climate change and cap the rise in global surface temperatures at two degrees Celsius by 2050 - although the latter target is not mentioned in the draft presented to delegates.
The United States, however, doesn't want any specific figures included in the Bali mandate, arguing that this would "prejudge the outcome" of the negotiations, according to its delegation chief, Harlan Watson, who said it had the support of Canada and Japan on this issue.
He described the four-page draft as "too complicated and long", stating the US would favour a shorter, more "streamlined" text as a basis for negotiations over the next two years, with 2009 as the "completion end date" for reaching a "shared global goal" to cut emissions.
Mr Watson said the US favoured a deal that would involve "all parties" to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change - code for including major developing countries such as China, India and Brazil in a new regime that would succeed the Kyoto Protocol after 2012.
An EU spokesman said it was "vital" that the Bali mandate should set a clear work programme for the next two years. "We need to walk out of Bali with a road map that everyone is indisputably supporting" - including the US, which spurned Kyoto when George Bush became president.
Senator John Kerry, the Democratic Party candidate Mr Bush defeated to win a second term in 2004, described the Bali summit as a "transformational and critical meeting", telling a press conference here that it should produce a "strong mandate" based on the latest scientific evidence.
He complained that the reluctance of the current US administration to provide leadership on the issue had "given an excuse to others not to engage" in the process. But he added: "Regardless of where the Bush administration stands, there's going to be a new president in 2009".
Referring to the moves being made in Congress to impose limits on carbon dioxide emissions and set new energy efficiency standards, Senator Kerry forecast the US "is going to be at the table, it is going to lead and embrace significantly different policies on climate change".
David Doniger, of the Washington-based Natural Resources Defence Council, said the real issue in Bali was whether the US delegation would "seek to hobble negotiations at the start" - even though "the science is screaming at us" to take decisive action to reduce emissions.
Jennifer Morgan, of the Climate Action Network, described the draft text of the Bali mandate as "a good start that needs improvement". But she said: "Watch out for Canada, the US and Saudi Arabia to destroy this text" by seeking the removal of any target range of cuts.
She said a leaked memo from Ottawa giving instructions to Canada's delegation in Bali to demand binding reductions from all major emitters - China, in particular - was "completely unacceptable" to developing countries and could be seen as a way of "sabotaging the talks".
By contrast, the Norwegian government's pledge to provide a total of $2.7 billion (€1.8 billion)over five years to help halt deforestation in developing countries was "a demonstration of pure leadership", in response to a joint appeal from the Rainforest Network and Friends of the Earth.
Julie Anne Richards, a leading Australian climate change campaigner, said its new government needed to differentiate itself from the US by joining the EU and New Zealand in supporting the 25-40 per cent target.
"The way to build bridges with developing countries is to sign up for targets."