A senior United Nations official called on the United Nations and Australia on Thursday to join the negotiations on a climate change regime after 2012 when Kyoto Protocol expires.
U.S., AUSTRALIA NEED TO COME BACK
"They need to come back," Yvo de Boer, Executive Secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), said in an interview with Xinhua.
De Boer said that the two big countries, which did not participate in the Kyoto Protocol, should join the negotiations for a post-Kyoto Protocol climate change regime.
Last week, 16 major economies, comprising both developed and developing nations, along with EU and UN representatives, agreed to speed up efforts to address climate change in the two-day meeting in Washington.
De Boer expressed his disappointment at the meeting. "What disappointed me is that the U.S. is not in favor of an internationally-agreed target," he said.
"Without a target, it will be difficult to get a carbon market. Without a carbon market, it will be very difficult to get investment in developing countries. And without investment in developing countries, it's difficult to get actions in developing countries," he stressed.
The Washington meeting is the first of a series of meetings on climate change. De Boer said that "it is good the United States are engaged in the debate."
The United Nations is to convene a climate change meeting in Bali, Indonesia in December and the main purpose of the meeting is to begin negotiations for a new climate change regime to replace the Kyoto Protocol.
"The major focus (of the Bali meeting) will be to try to agree a negotiation agenda for next two years," he said.
De Boer called on the United States and Australia to "come back. " "The United States and Australia should be part of the negotiations on a post-2012 climate change regime."
"We should sit together with all countries and ask the Untied States and Australia what need to happen to for them to be willing to be engaged," he said.
Asked about whether he is confident that the United States and Australia will join the negotiations, he said: "I think time will tell. At the moment we just have to begin the negotiations."
"I hope that the United States, China, India and Brazil will agree to begin negotiations. Then I think the challenge in the next two years will be to design a climate policy that is good for the united States, good for China and good for the EU," he said.
KYOTO TARGET DIFFICULT TO ACHIEVE
When asked about whether the target of the Kyoto Protocol can be achieved, the official appeared very pessimistic. "It is very difficult to achieve that target," he said.
Under the pact, which was adopted at the UN climate change conference in Kyoto, Japan, on Dec. 11, 1997 and entered into force on Feb. 16, 2005, developed nations should reduce green house gases by 5.2 percent in total compared to the year 1990 by 2012 when the pact expires.
De Boer said that Kyoto Protocol target is actually only four percent because the United States and Australia did not participate in the pact, which has been ratified by 169 countries and government entities as of December 2006, representing over 61. 6 percent of emissions from Annex I countries.
The UN official cited two reasons for possible failure of the target. "First because the United States and Australia do not participate in this, and secondly some European countries are seeing very strong economic growth and their emissions are going up," he said.
The United States, the largest single emitter of carbon dioxide from the burning of fossil fuels, signed the protocol, but did not ratify it.
"We need to work very hard in order to achieve that target," said De Boer, who is attending a hearing on climate change in the European Parliament.
DEVELOPING NATIONS DOING MORE
The UN official spoke highly of the measures by developing countries on climate change.
"More and more developing countries are acting on climate change, not only because of climate change, but also because of energy security issues and because of air quality issues," De Boer said.
China, Mexico, Brazil, India and other developing nations have ambitious strategy. "China has in place a very ambitious strategy on climate change, to introduce more renewable energy, to improve efficiency of industry, to close highly polluting small coal-fire power plant, to improve efficiency in households," he added.
"A country like China can save a lot of money through energy efficiency," he said.
He called for international cooperation to help developing nations including China to be more efficient and save money that would create a new investment in their economy.
"You need international cooperation on climate in order to do more," he added.
Source: Xinhua
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