LONDON, Oct. 12 (AlertNet) Â? Negotiations on a new global climate deal ahead of a December summit in Copenhagen are making good progress around the sharing of adaptation technology and protection of forests, but talks on the tough issues of money and emission cuts remain largely deadlocked, said a climate change expert involved in the process.
Saleemul Huq, a senior climate change fellow at the London-based International Institute for Environment and Development, predicted the finance roadblock may be removed at negotiations in Barcelona in November, which follow key meetings by European Union finance ministers and finance ministers of the G-20 group of large economies.
Unlocking money to fund climate initiatives Â?has to be done by higher-level politicians, not lower-level negotiatorsÂ? like those recently on hand for climate talks in Bangkok, said Huq, who attended those negotiations.
But a deal on coordinated cuts in greenhouse gas emissions by both developed and developing countries would likely come only in the final tortuous hours of negotiations in Copenhagen itself, he predicted.
Â?IÂ?m feeling confident,Â? he said. Â?With the amount of public spotlight and pressure on leaders, they canÂ?t fail to do something.Â?
PROMISES ON EMISSIONS CUTS
Environment ministers from about 190 nations will gather in the Danish capital at the end of the year for a United Nations climate change conference that aims to deliver a replacement to the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, the U.N's main weapon in the fight against climate change.
New commitments on emission cuts are trickling in, with Norway notably promising last week to cut its releases of greenhouse gases 40 percent from 1990 levels by 2020, just a decade away.
Japan has also promised a 25 percent reduction in emissions from 1990 levels by 2020.
But major emitters like the United States and China have yet to come up with similarly firm targets.
Â?Right now we have individual countries putting forward proposals about what they can do, and saying, Â?This is as ambitious as we can get our population or our legislators to be,Â?Â? said Huq, who authored chapters on adaptation, sustainable development and mitigation for two U.N. climate assessment reports.
Â?But those proposals donÂ?t add up to enough to solve the global problem,Â? he said. Â?For everyone to up their commitments, they need a collective decision, so they can go back home and say, Â?Everyone is doing it, so we need to do it too.Â?Â?
A deal on financing adaptation to climate change in the developing world, if it could be finalized before the Copenhagen meeting, would likely play a key role in pushing more ambitious emission reduction promises, Huq said.
Â?Developing countries say, Â?If we know we will be paid to do this, we are prepared to take action,Â?Â? he said. Â?Money has to be made available, not immediately but it has to be promised and at a sufficient level to deal with the problem.Â?
Prime Minister Gordon Brown has suggested that the developed world spend $100 billion a year on climate assistance to developing countries by 2020. Developing countries have asked for funds to the order of several hundred billion a year, though some of that might come through market trading of emission allowances rather than from governments.
Commitments are so far dramatically below that level, but there are a few signs of progress, said Huq, who is Bangladeshi. An emissions trading bill passed by the U.S. House of Representatives in June, for instance, sets aside about 5 to 6 percent of proceeds toward an international climate deal, which could produce $5 billion to $6 billion a year toward climate assistance, he said.
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
