Stay with Kyoto protocol, urges UN climate chief

October 7th, 2009 BANGKOK - Talks to finalise a climate treaty in time for December's Copenhagen summit are still stuck over key issues of the extent to which industrialised countries will reduce their greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and how much they will pay developing countries to deal with global warming, India's top climate negotiator said here Wednesday. As the Sep 28-Oct 9 preparatory talks here neared their final phase, Prime Minister's Special Envoy on Climate Change Shyam Saran said: "There is no agreement on the most difficult issues - mitigation (of GHG emissions) and financing." "We need an early decision on significant (GHG) emission reduction targets during the second commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol (2013-2020), but there's virtually no progress." India and 36 other developing countries have proposed that industrialised countries -- which have emitted almost all the excess GHG that is leading to climate change -- reduce their emissions by at least 40 percent by 2020, compared to 1990.

September 14th, 2009 Sweden urges US Senate to act on climate billSTOCKHOLM — Sweden's environment minister urged the U.S. Senate on Monday to pass legislation to control greenhouse gases, saying a delay in the vote is impeding negotiations on a new international climate treaty.

September 10th, 2009 EU steps up efforts for new global climate pactCOPENHAGEN — Fearing that a possible global deal on climate change is in danger, European foreign ministers announced Thursday they were stepping up efforts to make sure that nations around the world face up to global warming. Five EU foreign ministers have been traveling to European capitals for the last week to press the issue — and now they are taking the case for tackling climate change to other world capitals.

September 10th, 2009 Top US official: Climate bill urgently neededWASHINGTON — With negotiations on a new international climate treaty proving difficult, the Obama administration's chief climate negotiator on Thursday called on the Senate to act as soon as possible and pass legislation to control the gases blamed for global warming. Todd Stern, the State Department's special envoy for climate change, told a House panel that it was critical for the Senate to pass legislation to give the U.S.

September 8th, 2009 UN to add YouTube to live TV for climate momentumUNITED NATIONS — The U.N. is turning to YouTube to jolt the world's plodding climate diplomacy into higher gear.

September 8th, 2009 UK: Global deal on climate change may not happenLONDON — Britain's Foreign Secretary says there is danger a United Nations conference in December won't strike a global deal on climate change. David Miliband said Tuesday the complexity of negotiations and disputes between industrialized and developing nations leave prospects for a deal "in the balance." He said they threaten to sink a new global pact which would replace the 1997 Kyoto Protocol on reducing greenhouse gas emissions at the conference in Copenhagen.

September 1st, 2009 EU presses US on climate changeBRUSSELS — The European Union urged U.S. lawmakers on Tuesday to ensure the United States makes deep cuts in carbon emissions as part of negotiations to reach a new global climate change accord.

July 30th, 2009 UN chief says China wants climate dealUNITED NATIONS — Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon says China's leaders have assured him they want to seal a deal on a new U.N. climate treaty at a conference in Copenhagen, Denmark, in December.

July 24th, 2009 BEIJING - UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon Friday urged China to become a role model for developing nations in responding to climate change by promoting clean energy and investing in "green" economic growth. "China has long been the world's fastest-growing major economy," Ban said in a speech in Beijing.

July 2nd, 2009 EU: China, India must make emissions cutsSTOCKHOLM — The chances of concluding a new global climate change pact remain dim unless China, India and Brazil make significant cuts in carbon dioxide emissions as well a senior Swedish climate change official said Thursday. Lars-Erik Liljelund, special climate change adviser to the Swedish government, said cuts from richer countries in the 27-nation bloc or planned cuts in the United States will not be enough to meet aims to cut at least 25 percent of emission from 1990 levels.

June 13th, 2009 BONN - Industrialised countries should be legally bound to reduce their greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions "by at least 40 percent below 1990 levels in 2020", India and 36 other developing countries have proposed. The proposal, made on Friday, the last day of the June 1-12 talks here in preparation for the climate summit in Copenhagen this December, also says industrialised countries must reduce their GHG emissions after 2012 "by applying the principle of historical responsibility, from 1850 to 2005." Apart from India, the developing countries that have submitted this joint proposal to amend the 1997 Kyoto Protocol include China, Brazil, South Africa, Indonesia, Kenya, Malaysia, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.

June 11th, 2009 BONN - It will be "physically impossible" to have a detailed deal to tackle climate change by this December's summit in Copenhagen, UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Executive Secretary Yvo de Boer said here Wednesday. However, he hoped, the "Copenhagen (summit) will deliver clarity on key political issues in this debate, that there will be clarity on the extent industrialised countries will reduce their (GHG) emissions, and clarity on what major developing countries (including India) are willing to do to mitigate their emissions." He also hoped that there would be "clarity on financing developing countries" to help them mitigate their emissions and adapt to climate change, and that there would "clarity on the governance structure" to administer these funds.

June 11th, 2009 BONN - The preparatory talks here on a global deal to tackle climate change are in an "unsatisfactory state", Indian delegation leader Shyam Saran said Thursday on the penultimate day of the June 1-12 conclave. "At this rate, we're unlikely to get an ambitious agreement in Copenhagen, one that will be able to tackle climate change adequately," Saran, the Prime Minister's Special Envoy on Climate Change, told the media here.

June 9th, 2009 BONN - Officials from 182 countries Tuesday started their second reading of a draft global agreement to combat climate change, while delegates admitted in private and NGOs charged in public that no progress was being made. The negotiators gathered here to advance the draft stuck to their old positions, said Srinivas Krishnaswamy of the NGO Greenpeace India, with industrialised countries "offering very little beyond their old Kyoto Protocol commitments and developing countries saying nothing about the action they will take" to mitigate emissions of greenhouse gases (GHG).

June 3rd, 2009 US role in new climate treaty hinges on ChinaWASHINGTON — The United States is not likely to enter into a new international treaty to reduce the emissions blamed for global warming without China and other major greenhouse-gas emitters on board, the Obama administration's chief climate negotiator said Wednesday. U.S. climate envoy Todd Stern told reporters in a conference call that China and other major developing countries are critical to making any international agreement work, and there is not going to be a new treaty to curb greenhouse gases without them.