In september till december a few big climate negotiations ~ meetings are comming up, also one to make a treaty to replace the Kyoto Protocol.
Here under the view of the head of the UN Framework Convention on Climate change. It looks like the thirth world gonna have to do the major changes. :-( Grts Bruno M. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070823/ap_on_sc/netherlands_climate_change&printer=1;_ylt=Akug4Y3ealioHriHK1FWWl9xieAA De Boer speaks on climate change treaty By ARTHUR MAX, Associated Press WriterThu Aug 23, 4:45 PM ET The treaty that replaces the Kyoto Protocol on climate change could be a potpourri of legal obligations, nonbinding commitments and aid arrangements for the developing world, but each nation should choose its own course, the U.N.'s top climate official said Thursday. At the outset of a season of climate negotiations, Yvo de Boer, head of the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change, said countries like the United States are mistaken if they dismiss the Kyoto process on the grounds it is forcing them into unwanted legal commitments. "Countries themselves are in the best position to decide how they can achieve a target to which they commit," he told The Associated Press from his headquarters in Bonn, Germany. "You should not seek to impose legally binding commitments on countries." At the same time, he said, it was up to the industrialized nations to take the lead in fighting global warming, and that binding commitments give a strong signal to energy investors on where to put their money. De Boer's comments appeared aimed at minimizing differences with the United States, which opted out of binding international agreements, but which is now trying to seize the initiative in shaping the next phase of world climate policy. The U.S. position has angered the European Union, which has adopted increasingly higher targets and imposed tough regulations on its member nations beyond their Kyoto commitments. President Bush has called a conference in Washington next month of the world's 15 biggest polluters, including India, China and several other countries that were not bound by the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, which expires in 2012. De Boer will head the U.N. delegation. That meeting will take place three days after a broader meeting on climate change summoned by U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Sept. 24 in New York. Both the Washington and New York talks are geared toward a major U.N. meeting in Bali, Indonesia, in December to discuss a successor agreement to Kyoto. The Kyoto agreement requires 35 industrial nations to cut their global-warming emissions 5 percent below 1990 levels by 2012. It also devised a carbon trading market and set up a system for nations to offset part of their obligations by sponsoring emission-reduction projects in developing countries. De Boer said 700 such projects such as financing hydroelectric or wind power projects are in the pipeline. Bush has criticized Kyoto partly because it excluded fast-developing countries that have become big polluters, and frequently singled out India and China. However, De Boer said both those countries have adopted voluntary commitments: India to produce 25 percent of its energy from renewable supplies by 2030, and China to increase its energy efficiency by 20 percent within five years. Those kinds of commitments could dovetail with legally binding commitments in any new agreement, along with any number of other ideas. Voluntary and binding targets "are two approaches. Who knows? The process we launch in Bali might lead to three, four or five different approaches that accommodate different countries, different capabilities, to act on climate. It doesn't need to be one size fits all," he said. De Boer said an important element in the post-Kyoto climate regime will be how countries can gain credit by helping the developing world. "It makes sense to get the biggest bang for your bucks, to identify the most cost-effective emissions reduction options around the world. The atmosphere doesn't care where you reduce emissions as long as you reduce emissions," he said. "Having said that, there is a responsibility ... for industrialized countries to take the lead through domestic emissions reductions," he said. While legally binding targets cannot be imposed on unwilling nations, they are "important for the credibility of the process." Also Thursday, the U.N. released a report that additional investments of around $210 billion a year will be needed to hold greenhouse gas emissions to the current level in 2030, and most of that investment should flow to the developing world. Those countries will need tens of billions of dollars more annually to help them adapt to unavoidable changes in their climate, it said. _______________________________________________ Biofuel mailing list Biofuel@sustainablelists.org http://sustainablelists.org/mailman/listinfo/sustainablelorgbiofuel Biofuel at Journey to Forever: http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html Search the combined Biofuel and Biofuels-biz list archives (70,000 messages): http://www.mail-archive.com/biofuel@sustainablelists.org/
