EU threatens boycott if US stalls climate talks

Europe today warned it will boycott American-led climate talks next month unless the country accepts targets for cutting greenhouse gases at the Bali climate conference.

“No result in Bali means no Major Economies Meeting,” said Sigmar Gabriel, a top EU environment official, referring to a series of separate climate talks initiated by US President George Bush in September.

The US invited 16 other major economies, including European countries, Japan, China and India, to discuss a possible programme of nationally determined, voluntary cutbacks in greenhouse gas emissions, as opposed to the binding targets favoured by the EU and others currently meeting in Bali.

Earlier the UN’s climate chief warned that a deadlock between the US and the EU over emissions cuts threatened to derail the conference.

America has refused to accept language in a draft document suggesting that industrialised nations consider cutting emissions by 25-40% by 2020 during upcoming negotiations for a successor to the Kyoto Protocol.

The EU and other governments say the figures reflect the measures scientists say are necessary to rein in global warming. But the US and some others argue the inclusion of specific targets will limit the scope of future talks.

“I’m very concerned about the pace of things,” said head UN climate official Yvo de Boer, as the Bali talks entered their final stretch. “If we don’t get wording on the future, then the whole house of cards falls to pieces.”

While it continues to reject inclusion of the numbers, the US delegation hopes to reach an agreement that includes all parties and is both “environmentally effective” and “economically sustainable”.

The conference, which has drawn delegates from 190 nations to Bali island, is aimed at launching negotiations for a successor to the Kyoto Protocol, which expires in 2012. The meeting is scheduled to end tomorrow.

Other sticking points include demands from developing countries that they be given assurances of financial assistance and access to expensive technology to help them transition to cleaner economies.

Mr de Boer said he thought a revised draft, which changed the language on emissions cuts, would still include the US among countries that would consider more ambitious targets. But he added language in the draft is unclear.

“The way I read the particular paragraph … is that it addresses all industrialised countries,” he said.

“My assessment is that it is not clearly crafted. We will have to wait and see where this goes.”

The US, the world’s largest emitter of greenhouse gases and the only major industrial country to have rejected Kyoto, has been on the defensive since the conference started on December 3.

But US Under Secretary of State Paula Dobriansky, the head of the American delegation, said the conference was simply the start of negotiations, not the end.

Environmentalists have accused Washington of standing in the way of a meaningful deal.

“We know that there is a wrecking crew in Bali led by the US administration and its minions,” said Jennifer Morgan, spokeswoman for environmental groups on Bali. “They are working hard to pull out the bits of text that matter to developing countries on finance and technology.”

“Everyone wants the United States in so badly that they will be willing to accept some level of ambiguity in the negotiations,” said Greenpeace energy expert John Coequyt.

“Our worry is that we will end up with a deal that is unacceptable from an environmental perspective.”