BRUSSELS —

The European Union on Monday urged the United States and China to deliver greenhouse gas emissions targets at next month’s climate conference in Copenhagen, saying their delays were hindering global efforts to curb climate change.
 
Two weeks before the U.N.-sponsored conference, the world’s largest polluters have not put any firm bids on the table.
 
“Without a bid from the U.S. or China, only half of emissions are covered,” Sweden’s environment minister Andreas Carlgren said after he led talks with other EU nations. He said an agreement was “totally dependent” on both countries promising cuts.
 
The U.S. still has not committed to figures for its own emissions reductions or financing, with negotiators waiting until Congress completes domestic climate legislation.
 
Chinese President Hu Jintao said last week that nations would each do what they were able—referring to China’s view that developing nations should not be required to make cuts. China has promised to curb emissions but has not said by how much.
 
Carlgren said any agreement also had to include pledges from developing countries—especially major economies such as China—to curb emissions.
 
World leaders are no longer expected to reach a legally binding agreement in Copenhagen, and are aiming instead for a political deal that includes commitments on reducing emissions and financing for developing countries to deal with climate change.
 
The EU’s environment commissioner Stavros Dimas said nations still had a lot of work to do in Copenhagen because they have to set new emission targets and agree on other actions to curb global warming—such as how they plan to prevent widespread deforestation.
 
He said the talks should also set a timetable for 2010 meetings to work toward a full binding global treaty.
 
A panel of U.N. scientists has recommended that developed countries make cuts of between 25% and 40% of greenhouse gas emissions by 2020 to avoid a catastrophic rise in sea levels, harsher storms and droughts and climate disruptions.
 
The EU aims for deeper cuts than most other industrialized nations—pledging to move from a 20% cut below 1990 levels to 30% if others follow suit. By 2050, it wants to eliminate most emissions, with a target of up to 95%.
 
The U.S. is considering a far lower cut—17% from 2005 levels or about 3.5% from 1990. Japan has promised a 25% reduction from 1990 levels. Per head, Americans account for twice the emissions compared to Europeans and Japanese.
 
While the EU sees itself as a trailblazer, it has delayed promising cash to poorer nations to help them tackle global warming. EU leaders have pledged to pay their “fair share” into an annual global fund but gave no amount.
 

Copyright 2009 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

› Login to comment

5 Comments

• 

  usaexpat at 07:07 AM JST - 24th November

  Stuff your carbon targets we should do absolutely nothing until we know how it will affect the economy. People aren't goning to care much about the polar ice caps if they can't feed themselves.

• 

  Wolfpack at 09:00 AM JST - 24th November

  Maybe the world should actually wait and see if man-made global warming isn't just a socialist fraud before committing economic suicide. Despite what Al Gore's computer models have projected, the Earth has not warmed at all in a decade. Even so, that hasn't stopped the enironment worshipping bureaucrats at the UN from continuing to put out random and continuously extended deadlines by which time the world will be doomed if all humanity doesn't return to living in caves like our Cro-magnon ancestors.

  Given the reluctance to support nuclear power, there is no way to increase the amount of energy that the world needs while simultaneously cutting cabron emissions by some random percentage. I am all for reducing pollutants, but carbon dioxide is plant food and is essential for life on Earth. Let's not turn Al Gore from a millionaire into a billionaire based on incomplete science.

• 

  franz75 at 09:42 AM JST - 24th November

  usaexpat:

  Until it's too late. If you don't set limits it will be worse. Why should we wait? This is same as removing speed limits on the freeways, roads. Some people are responsible, many more aren't.

  Wolfpack :

  "a socialist fraud" wow! just wow! They are all after you and your capital.

• 

  usaexpat at 12:38 AM JST - 25th November

  franz75: I don't know, I think wolfpack has it right. If you aren't paranoid you're not paying attention.

• 

  Wolfpack at 12:50 AM JST - 25th November

  franz75: "a socialist fraud" wow! just wow! They are all after you and your capital.

  Well, I really don't have that much capital for them to come after, although I would like to keep what little I have. What I am most worried about is my freedom to do and choose those things that I want to do as opposed to what others would have me do. The man-made global warming theory is a perfect vehicle for those politicians that support statism.

  Climate science is being manipulated and is simply 'politics by other means'. The carbon targets that the Europeans want America to commit to in order to make the Copenhagen summit a succes, are based more on political ideology instead of science. Now that the emails from East Anglia University have exposed a concerted fraud by the premiere scientists espousing man-made globabl warming, there are more reasons then ever to question the rationale behind even having environmental summits like Kyoto and Copenhagen to regulate a non-pollutant like carbon.

  http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2009/11/24/thefixisin99280.html

  Given that the science is being manipulated by leading climate scientists and current and former politicians, what other possible reason then Leftist politics can there be for the desperate push to force massive regulatory changes upon the people of the world?

Register or Login to leave a comment