EU, U.S. to meet to try and salvage climate deal
December 5, 2000
BRUSSELS, Belgium (Reuters) -- Top government officials from the
United States and the European Union meet in Canada on Wednesday
to try to salvage a deal on curbing global warming, an EU
official said on Monday.
The two-day meeting will be the first between the two sides since
U.N.-sponsored talks to set a global strategy on cutting
"greenhouse gas" emissions collapsed spectacularly last month.
If the Ottawa session brings the two sides closer, it could pave
the way for a ministerial-level meeting that could take place in
Oslo early next week, the EU official said.
Disagreement on the issue of 'carbon sinks'
Huge differences between the United States and the EU on how to
implement a 1997 U.N. climate pact agreed in Kyoto, Japan,
scuppered a deal when some 180 countries met at a two-week
conference in The Hague last month.
The biggest stumbling block was the U.S. position that countries
should be allowed to offset the carbon dioxide soaked up by their
forests and farmlands against the pollution reduction targets
agreed in Kyoto.
The EU accused the United States and its negotiating allies
including Japan and Canada of trying to undermine the Kyoto
targets. The 15-country bloc rejected a last-minute compromise
which would have allowed limited use of such "carbon sinks."
Getting an agreement on sinks will be the key to agreement in
Ottawa, the EU official said.
The other main "crunch point" will be the EU's insistence that
countries make a large part of their emissions cuts through
domestic action, rather than by buying emissions reduction
credits from other countries.
How to implement Kyoto protocol?
At Kyoto, developed countries agreed to cut emissions of the
gasses scientists say trap heat inside the Earth's atmosphere
causing extreme disruption to weather patterns.
Governments were supposed to set detailed rules for how this
target -- to reduce emissions by five percent of 1990 levels by
2008-2012 -- should be achieved.
Due to the deadlock the talks were officially "suspended" in the
hope a deal could be achieved by the first half of 2001.
Canada and Japan, which are partners of the United States in the
so-called "umbrella group" of countries seeking maximum
flexibility for implementing Kyoto, will attend the Ottawa
meeting.
The EU will be represented by its executive Commission and the
governments of France, Sweden, Britain and Germany, the official
said.
A quick deal sought
All sides have said they want to reach a deal as quickly as
possible, not least because of the prospect of a Republican U.S.
president -- George W. Bush -- who is known to be less favourable
to Kyoto than his Democratic rival Al Gore.
Any deal between the umbrella group and the EU will still have to
be accepted by the developing nations which, although they do not
have emissions reductions targets, are likely to be hardest hit
by climate change.
The G77 group of developing countries said in The Hague any deal
would have to include an aid package to help them cope with the
rising sea levels, floods and droughts they fear will result from
global warming.
Article by Reuters
SOURCE: CNN
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