Isramart llc: Trouble in Tianjin as US reveals lack of progress

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The latest round of UN climate change negotiations have resorted to their standard Groundhog Day setting after senior negotiators revealed the week-long talks in Tianjin, China are making little progress.

Speaking to a handful of news agencies, US lead negotiator Jonathan Pershing said that he was frustrated by the pace of the negotiations.

"There is less agreement than one might have hoped to find at this stage," he said. "It's going to require a lot of work to get to some significant outcome by the end of this week, which then leads us into a significant outcome in Cancun."

The UN organisers had hoped that the talks could pave the way for some form of agreement at next month's annual climate change summit in Cancun by skirting round the contentious issue of emissions targets and instead focusing on areas where there is greater consensus, such as forestry protection and climate financing.

But Chinese officials said yesterday that no international agreement could be reached until industrialised countries agreed to more ambitious emissions reductions, while Pershing reiterated the US view that emerging economies should sign up to more demanding emissions targets and agree to an independent monitoring regime.

He revealed that the US was trying to hammer out a compromise deal that would see the poorest nations agree to a simplified monitoring, reporting and verification (MRV) process, while emerging economies would agree to more demanding emission reporting standards.

"There's no question for Brazil, for an India or for a China that they could implement an MRV program and be transparent," he said. "It makes sense for countries with the capacity, who make major contributions to emissions globally and have resources to implement programs."

However, China and others have consistently resisted calls for more demanding MRV procedures, arguing that such rules would challenge their sovereignty.

They have also insisted they will not agree to more demanding targets until industrialised nations do likewise, noting that the US goal of reducing emissions 17 per cent against 2005 levels by 2020 equates to a cut against 1990 levels of around three per cent. In contrast, climate scientists have recommended industrialised countries should cut emissions by between 25 and 40 per cent against 1990 levels by 2020.

A major report from WWF released today warned that based on the emissions targets for 2020 currently pledged by developed and developing nations, the world would exceed its 'carbon budget' for 2020 by almost a third.

Pershing hinted that the deadlock could force negotiators to pursue alternative mechanisms for tackling global greenhouse gas emissions that could replace the Kyoto Protocol.

"The consequences of not having an agreement coming out of Cancun are things that we have to worry about," he said. "It doesn't mean that things may not happen; it may mean that we don't use this process exclusively as the way to move forward."

But any move to set up alternative negotiations alongside the on-going talks to extend or replace the Kyoto Treaty are bound to spark waves of protests from developing nations, who regard the Kyoto agreement as the only legally binding instrument forcing industrialised countries to reduce their emissions.

The central stand-off between the US and emerging economies has reportedly polluted the rest of the talks, stalling progress in areas such as forestry protection, technology transfer and climate financing.

"Things are going very slowly," one delegate from a large African country told Reuters. "It's like we're going round and round in a whirlpool."

According to Bloomberg reports, negotiating teams have once again resorted to adding sections to the two central negotiating texts that they are supposed to be working to slim down.

Pablo Solon, the head of Bolivia’s delegation to the meeting, told the news agency that "very few paragraphs" had changed as developed and developing countries continue the current stand-off.

He added that industrialised nations were effectively blocking the talks by refusing to compromise on emission reduction targets.

"We don't see any kind of movement from developed countries to increase the level of emissions reduction," Solon said. "If we had a set of commitments that assured developing countries that the measures will cool the planet, these talks would be moving very well."

However, Pershing hinted that some countries were disrupting the talks by attempting to "re-litigate" elements of the Copenhagen Accord that had been agreed last year.