Isra-Mart srl:US and China edge towards Cancun carbon reporting deal

www.isra-mart.com

Isra-Mart srl news:

The US and China are reportedly edging towards agreement on how to report on greenhouse gas emissions in what would represent a major breakthrough for the Cancun Climate Summit.

Early reports from the summit have suggested that the negotiations surrounding so-called measurement, reporting and verification (MRV) have been progressing well, ending a year that has seen the US and China at loggerheads over the proposals.

Both negotiating teams have noticeably softened their tone on the issue and today Associated Press quoted China's chief negotiator as saying the country now had "no problem with MRV".

"Maybe the differences are not that huge," he said. "In general, both countries would like to promote the process."

The details of any deal are yet to be finalised, but observers said the change in tone between the two superpowers, coupled with the prospects of agreement on one of the issues that had seemed intractable at last year's Copenhagen Summit, would represent a major boost to the talks and could help deliver progress across a number of other issues.

The US has long-insisted that an independent MRV mechanism should form a central part of any climate change deal to ensure countries actually deliver on their pledges to curb emissions. But China previously rejected such calls, arguing that any form of international inspections would infringe its sovereignty.

Earlier this week the US delegation admitted it had held bilateral talks with China to try and bring to end some of the differences between the two nations and, according to reports, a compromise was brokered on MRV based on new proposals put forward by India and Singapore.

The news will provide a major boost to the talks after Japan threatened to derail the negotiations yesterday by insisting it would not negotiate any extension to the Kyoto Protocol.

The move prompted anger among many developing countries who wish to see the Kyoto Agreement extended when it expires in 2012.