Bridges Trade BioRes • Volume 2 • Number 17 • 7th November 2002
US Sides with Developing Countries in Resisting Additional Climate Commitments
US Sides with Developing Countries in Resisting Additional Climate Commitments
The deep division between developing and developed countries’ positions was again apparent at the Eighth Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change in New Delhi, India, on 23 October to 1 November. Many civil society groups accused the US of deliberately polarising the debate by supporting developing countries in their efforts to avoid additional commitments to reduce carbon dioxide, methane and other greenhouse gases.
Divisions at the Conference largely centred around whether to hold discussions regarding the need for “further action” on combating climate change, in particular after the first commitment period ending in 2012, as called for by the EU, including the role that developing countries should play in addressing climate change and what commitments they should accept. In the end, a debate on post-2012 action was postponed, and the Delhi Ministerial Declaration did not call for follow-up action, instead emphasising the need for adaptation measures, sustainable development and technology transfer.
The US was the only industrialised country to express satisfaction with the final declaration, which they regarded as “a balanced document for future course of action to deal with climate change.” In contrast, the EU, backed by Canada, Japan and Switzerland, expressed disappointment with the outcome, which they saw as lacking vision and action for the future. “The Declaration is very much about the poor and poorest countries’ development needs,” said Steen Gade from the Danish Environmental Protection Agency. “However, the message that we have a common responsibility for the state of the globe, and that that responsibility includes taking the next step towards a necessary stabilisation of the global climate, does not appear as clearly as we might have wished.”
On the positive side, the EU welcomed the inclusion of references to the Kyoto Protocol in the final Declaration, which had not appeared in the first draft. In particular, the Declaration calls on Parties that have already ratified the Protocol to “strongly urge Parties that have not already done so to ratify the Kyoto Protocol in a timely manner”. Some progress was also made on several of the technical issues, notably the rules and procedures for the Clean Development Mechanism (i.e. collaborative projects to reduce emissions or sequester carbon in developing countries), guidelines for reporting and review, and additional guidance to the Fund for least-developed countries.
Many civil society groups blamed the US for deliberately slowing down the talks by further deepening the North-South divide and supporting the efforts of the G-77/China to postpone the debate on additional commitments. “The Bush administration, working closely with Saudi Arabia, has taken a number of steps at this meeting to obstruct the process,” said Jennifer Morgan, director of WWF’s climate change program. “Given that the Bush Administration cites the lack of developing country commitments as one of its main reasons for abandoning Kyoto, the US tactic gives cynicism a bad name,” the Climate Action Network (CAN) added. CAN also criticised the references to the Kyoto Protocol, which they said fell short of expectations. “The wording on Kyoto is merely cosmetic,” CAN noted in its statement. “The declaration fails to demand the immediate and unconditional ratification of the Kyoto Protocol by all countries, especially the worlds’ biggest polluter, the United States.” Despite describing the limited progress on Kyoto implementation issues as “not helpful”, CAN did not regard it as “a big setback as time remains to get things right before COP-9″.
Measures to address climate change have recently been put onto the WTO’s agenda, with Saudi Arabia’s submission to the Committee on Trade and Environment (CTE) regarding trade implications of energy taxation, subsidies and incentives of OECD countries on developing countries exports (WT/CTE/W/215). While the Saudi proposal did not receive a great deal of attention at the 10-11 October CTE meeting, it did put climate change issues on the table at the WTO, particularly targeting potential carbon taxes that could emerge from an eventual binding agreement to limit greenhouse gas emissions.
To date, 96 countries (55 required) have ratified or acceded to the Kyoto Protocol accounting for 37.4 percent of CO2 emissions (55 percent required). Entry into force, expected next year, will depend on Russia ratifying the Protocol, following the US withdrawal from the deal last year (see BRIDGES Weekly, 27 March 2001). Russia has declared that the country was moving towards ratification, but that the matter would need to be discussed in parliament before ratification.
Additional Resources
Issues of the CAN newsletter ECO can be found at http://www.climatenetwork.org/eco/.
For daily coverage, see http://www.iisd.ca/linkages/climate/cop8/.
ENB Vol.12 No.209, 4 November 2002; “COP8: The climate change negotiations ended with a disappointing result,” EU PRESS RELEASE, 1 November 2002; “Build trust before COP-9,” ECO, 1 November 2002; “Dissent clouds Delhi climate declaration,” ENS, 1 November 2002.