Update 2 May: China is not alone in its demands that the IPCC report places the burden of responsibility for greenhouse gas emissions on developed countries. According to a report by the AFP news agency, India and Brazil have backed its amendments. The agency says that China has submitted a document to the IPCC stating that 鈥渋f the countries with high per capita emissions do not reduce their emissions significantly, it will be difficult to make substantial global progresses in greenhouse gas mitigation鈥�. China, Brazil and India would like this to be stated in the IPCC report, due for release on Friday 4 May.
Original article: The latest round of international talks on climate change are being bogged down by hundreds of amendments from governments, and by China鈥檚 objections to a proposed blueprint for battling global warming, according to a senior delegate.
快猫短视频s and government officials from more than 100 countries are meeting in Bangkok, Thailand, this week to review the summary for policy makers of part 3 of the 2007 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report.
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The latest section, due to be released on 4 May, outlines ways to cut greenhouse gas emissions and the costs of preventing damaging climate change. Parts 1 and 2 were released in February and April, and looked at the physical basis of climate change (see Blame for global warming placed firmly on humankind) and the impacts of global warming (see Climate change is here now, says major report).
But, as with the two other sections, scientists at the Bangkok gathering are squaring off with governments (see Behind the scenes at the IPCC).
Chinese officials have demanded a last-minute insertion of a paragraph to spell out that industrialised nations are to blame for most of the greenhouse gas emissions in the atmosphere since the start of the west鈥檚 Industrial Revolution.
Start of a flood?
鈥淭hey want a statement that the cumulative proportion of emissions due to industrial countries is very high 鈥� it鈥檚 about 75%,鈥� says the delegate, who asked not to be identified.
Such a demand breaches IPCC procedures and risks opening the way for other countries to request last-minute details to be inserted, potentially hampering the talks, he says. 鈥淭he Chinese have a lot of other things they want to do. They want to gut the report of meaning in lots of different ways. So this is just the start of what they are up to,鈥� he says.
Governments have proposed about 1500 amendments spanning more than 160 pages and many would be discussed during the week in special contact groups, the delegate says. Talks could run well into the night.
The report estimates that stabilising greenhouse gas emissions will cost between 0.2% and 3.0% of world gross domestic product by 2030, depending on how fast greenhouse gas emissions grow.
But sections of the report dealing with this could be altered or even taken out, the delegate says.
Nothing new
Another delegate, a veteran of climate negotiations, said the politicking is normal. 鈥淚t鈥檚 exactly the same as one would expect in these things. Basically what happens is there is a whole lot of fiddling around for the first couple of days and then people get down to work. This is standard UN practice,鈥� he said.
He described the Chinese move to insert the paragraph as nothing new and mere posturing ahead of Kyoto Protocol talks in Bali, Indonesia, in December 2007, at which China, India and other big developing nations will come under pressure to cut emissions.
China is now the world鈥檚 second biggest producer of greenhouse gases after the US, and India is fourth.
Under the Kyoto protocol, developing countries including China and India are not bound to cut their emissions by 2012. But the US, which has refused to ratify Kyoto, says it does not make sense for the giant economies of India and China to remain outside a global emissions pact.
Targets essential
鈥淐hina doesn鈥檛 want to be corralled into commitments that minimise its freedom of action. Questioning the science and digging in is part of that,鈥� says Paul Harris, an expert on climate change politics at Lingnan University in Hong Kong, China. 鈥淚t wants to put off the serious discussion of accepting mandatory limits.鈥�
The Global Times, a newspaper run by China鈥檚 ruling Communist Party, accused western politicians last week of using 鈥渃limate terrorism鈥� to undermine China鈥檚 quest for prosperity.
Senior EU climate policy expert Tom Van Ireland says it is crucial to engage China to cap global emissions. 鈥淲e don鈥檛 ask India, China and Brazil to do the same things we ask from developed countries, which is taking binding targets to reduce their emissions,鈥� he says, adding that it is crucial they adopted cleaner and greener technology to cut emissions.
Climate Change 鈥� Want to know more about global warming 鈥� the science, impacts and political debate? Visit our continually updated special report.
