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BALI,
Indonesia—There were signs that no final deal on a future
climate regime will be concluded in Bali talks. UN
officials said the goal is merely to launch negotiations,
to set an agenda on the “main building blocks” of a future
agreement and to set an end date for conclusion of the
negotiations.
UN Framework for Climate Change Conference
Executive Secretary Yvo de Boer said clashing views have
arisen during the past few days, adding that some
countries wanted legally binding targets for developing
countries while other nations said developing countries
could limit growth in emissions provided incentives are
put in place. But one of the most politically charged
issues is the question of who should curb greenhouse-gas
emissions and by how much.
“In spite of this development there’s a
good progress in the future-oriented discussion on three
of the four building blocks. Good progress has been made
on mitigation, adaptation and technology,” Boer said.
The UN climate-change summit moved into
high gear Tuesday with the arrival of environment
ministers, prime ministers and heads of state to agree on
a mandate for negotiating a successor to the Kyoto
Protocol by 2009 at the latest.
US Democrat Sen. John F. Kerry, leader of
the Senate delegation to the climate change meetings in
Bali, said “the world knows no agreement can succeed
without the United States.”
“While the President has acknowledged
global warming as a problem, he has refused to commit the
United States to emissions reductions, or to embrace a
global target for halting the buildup of greenhouse gases
in the atmosphere before they double from pre-industrial
levels,” Kerry said.
He, however, added that the US and other
industrialized nations must accept mandatory caps and
acknowledge that poorer nations won’t forgo economic
growth or bear the cost of other’s past emissions.
“China and other developing countries will
have to take on their own binding commitments—not the same
form as ours—but perhaps a commitment per unit of GDP
growth instead of population or a single-industry cap,”
Kerry said, adding that China, India, Brazil, Mexico and
other developing nations will have to lower absolute
emissions.
The US, supported by Canada and Japan,
wants any emissions-reduction deal to embrace
China
and other developing nations.
With the seemingly “no-deal” scenario in
the binding of commitments here in Bali, Kerry said he is
hopeful that the US stance on Kyoto will change after the
presidential election next year.
“When the Democrats win in 2008, the
position will be different. Every single Democratic
candidate for president has embraced mandatory caps, has
embraced the need for the United States to lead on these
issues and has expressed their willingness to immediately
become part of the Kyoto discussions and try to find a
successive agreement,” Kerry told reporters here. | 
