DECEMBER 15, 2009
Developing Countries Briefly Walk Out of U.N. Climate Talks
COPENHAGEN -- Tensions flared Monday at the United Nations climate summit, as representatives from a group of poor nations briefly walked out of the conference to protest the slow pace of negotiations, and European Union officials expressed exasperation with the U.S. and China.
News Hub: Political Showdowns in Copenhagen
7:29 Environmental reporter Jeffrey Ball reports from Copenhagen, where political clashes are taking place outside and delegates are staging walkouts inside the COP15 Climate Conference.
The Group of 77, which represents developing countries as well as large emerging economies such as Brazil, India and China, walked out of the negotiations in the morning, a Brazilian diplomat said. The delegates returned to the conference later Monday, but the underlying issues remained unsolved, Swedish Minister Andreas Carlgren said. Sweden represents the European Union, as it holds the six-month rotating presidency of the 27-country bloc until the end of the year.
The turbulence inside the Copenhagen conference was matched by disturbances and disorganization outside, as hundreds of people waited in line for hours in chilly weather to gain access to the conference center. Meanwhile, Danish police arrested and detained more than 1,000 protestors who staged demonstrations outside the climate conference Saturday and Sunday. Danish lawmakers passed new legislation ahead of the climate conference allowing preventative detention, under which people can be held by police for up to 12 hours.
Getty Images Participants at the conference walked past a globe on Thursday, when a walkout by developing countries stalled negotiations.
The official proceedings of the climate conference are heading into their second week. World leaders, including President Barack Obama, are expected to arrive late this week ostensibly to clinch a deal to curb worldwide greenhouse gas emissions and establish new mechanisms for subsidizing efforts by poor countries to adopt low-carbon energy technology or adapt to the effects of rising global temperatures. Among the more high profile groups demanding action are representatives of island nations who have warned their low-lying countries could be swamped if melting polar ice caps raise ocean levels.
At the heart of the disputes in Copenhagen are sharp disagreements over money, which came to the fore again Monday.
Mamadou Honadia, who is part of the negotiating team for the African nation of Burkina Faso, said the G-77 had resumed talks with rich-nations, but was still unhappy that industrialized countries weren't giving longer-term financial commitments to poorer states.
"We need to see developed nations give us a plan of what (financial) transfers will come in five years, 10 years and how much over the years ahead, and we aren't seeing that," he said.
The EU has pledged 7.2 billion ($10.5 billion) in financing between next year and 2012 to jump-start the fight against climate change in developing countries.
A Nigerian delegation official said earlier Monday that a key reason for the walkout was under funding from rich nations. He said the E.U. offer for just over 7 billion in short-term funding was "pathetic."
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At a press conference late Monday, European officials expressed indignation that some developing countries had criticized the EU's offer.
"We are the only part of the world that has put money on the table, and we're criticized for it," said Stavros Dimas, the EU environment commissioner.
Another official -- Jo Leinen, a member of the European Parliament from Germany -- called on the U.S. and China to set more aggressive targets for controlling their emissions, saying the two countries' offers aren't sufficient to stabilize the climate.
"There is a lot of mistrust between the countries -- you could see that it was a frozen atmosphere outside [the Bella Center] and a frozen atmosphere inside," Mr. Leinen said. Referring to China and the U.S., he added, "It would be helpful if two of the main stakeholders could come out of their very reserved and defensive positions."
The Copenhagen summit seeks to find a new agreement on international rules to limit global warming after 2012. Developing countries want to keep the structure of the 1997 Kyoto Protocol --which mandates rich nations, but not poorer countries nor the U.S.--to cut greenhouse gas emissions, with a new document to supplement it.
A member of the Chinese delegation said the country stands by the position that provisions under the Kyoto Protocol must be respected in any new pact. But U.S. negotiators have said they won't support
subsidies for China. The U.S. also never ratified the Kyoto Protocol, in part
because U.S. lawmakers objected to the proposal that rich nations should accept steady cuts in their use of fossil fuels, while China, India and other developing nations wouldn't face such restrictions and could, in theory, continue to expand their manufacturing at the expense of U.S. rivals.
Another sensitive issue in the Copenhagen talks surfaced Monday as China lashed out at the U.N. office in charge of approving carbon credits after it rejected 10 Chinese wind farm projects earlier this month and accused China of fudging the numbers to make them eligible for international subsidies.
"If you reject wind power, what else is there?" said Sun Cuihua, an official at the National Reform and Development Commission which overseas the U.N.-sanctioned clean development mechanism that creates carbon credits.
Under the CDM mechanism, rich countries can invest in carbon-abatement projects in poor countries and get carbon credits that can be traded.
"They say that we made up the electricity prices; that is not a responsible thing to say," Ms. Sun told reporters at a meeting where Chinese windfarm owners and developers issued a statement protesting the U.N. decision.
Even the G-77 isn't in total harmony as it heads into the final stretch of this meeting.
Saudi Arabia and Brazil sparred Monday over carbon capture and sequestration, something the kingdom is pushing to shore up its own emission-reduction efforts, according to an official from a G-77 nation familiar with the matter.
Brazil is concerned that CCS could dent its biofuels industry, as nations opt to burn more fossil fuels and bury emissions underground, rather than burn clean-burning biofuels such as ethanol, of which Brazil is a leader.
Shai Oster contributed to this article.
