The World Future Council ( WFC) Saturday accused delegates from
the world's wealthiest nations of putting the brakes on
negotiations on climate talks which are currently going on in Bali,
Indonesia.
Industrial countries, especially the United States, still refuse
to commit to drastic cuts in CO2 emissions. This suggests that an
agreement on binding climate protection resolutions for the period
after 2012 is becoming less likely, said a press release issued by
WFC, a global forum of 50 respected personalities.
In a breach of the Kyoto Protocol, industrialized countries, who
are most responsible for the causes of climate change, are
attempting to tie-in their emissions commitments with concessions
from emerging countries such as China and Brazil, it said.
Jakob von Uexkull, founder of the WFC, said a mere agreement on
negotiations towards a comprehensive climate change deal that all
nations can embrace would not be a breakthrough, as UN Secretary
General Ban Ki-moon has described it, but a failure to respond to
climate change effectively.
If rich industrialized countries are serious about limiting an
increase in average global temperatures to 2 degrees centigrade,
then they would have to commit to zero emissions by 2020, the press
release said. Current pledges of 80 percent cuts by 2050 would be
too conservative.
WFC demands that environment ministers arriving next week should
speed up the negotiations towards clear binding reduction
targets.
Jakob von Uexkull said, "Bali is the most important
international meeting in history. Accelerating climate chaos
threatens global peace, security, and progress. From now on the
negotiating process needs to reflect this."
He added that the Bali outcome must be an ongoing process to
move beyond the carbon-driven economy towards a carbonabsorbing
economy. "Countries with similar interests should appoint joint
representatives with the mandate to negotiate until agreement is
reached on a binding CO2 reduction program which, in scope and
timing, reflects what the science now demands."
To conclude talks in Bali without agreeing binding emissions
reduction targets would be a major setback in the race to prevent
climate chaos, as the first Treaty Obligation period expires in
2012, said the WFC.
Stefan Schurig, WFC Climate and Energy Director, called on
wealthy countries to live up to their responsibilities and set up
an international investment fund that guarantees rapid technology
transfer from the north to the south.
This would give poorer countries privileged access to renewable
energy technologies to help them bypass the failures of the fossil
fuel driven economy with truly sustainable development.
He said, "Scientists have clearly demonstrated in the last few
months that we need to restructure our entire economy towards
sustainability in order to limit average global temperature rise to
below 2 degrees centigrade."
"Recent studies show that even the most alarming predictions by
the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change were too
conservative. Political action must do justice to scientific facts.
We have to acknowledge Bali as a 'crisis summit'."
(Xinhua News Agency December 8, 2007)
