BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Union will stick with its lowest offer for cutting carbon emissions under a U.N. climate accord, fulfilling the wishes of industry, a draft letter shows.
The 27-nation bloc has committed to unilaterally cut carbon dioxide to 20 percent below 1990 levels over the next decade.
Ahead of the U.N. climate talks in Copenhagen in December it offered to deepen those cuts to 30 percent if other rich countries made similar efforts.
That offer still stands, according to the draft letter to top U.N. climate official Yvo de Boer. But it is unlikely to be carried out because the Copenhagen talks ended with a weak deal.
Experts say the total cuts offered there by rich countries amount to no more than 18 percent and fall far short of the 25-40 percent that U.N. scientists outline as necessary to avert dangerous climate change.
The world is currently on track for temperatures to rise to 3.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels by the end of this century, which would bring catastrophic melting of ice sheets and rising seas, some scientists say.
But many EU countries and industries are wary of increasing cuts to 30 percent alone, because the cost of cutting emissions might put factories at a disadvantage to rivals in less regulated countries.
LEVERAGE
"After the Copenhagen failure, the EU would be foolish to again unilaterally increase its greenhouse gas objective," Gordon Moffat, the head of steel industry group Eurofer, said in a statement on Thursday. "Another 10 percent would be fatal."
But environmentalists say the EU is naive to think its conditional 30 percent offer creates any negotiating leverage and the bloc should move there anyway to set a moral example.
"Tackling climate negotiations with the same strategy as trade negotiations will simply get them bogged down like the current Doha round of trade talks," Greenpeace campaigner Joris den Blanken said.
Spain, which holds the EU's rotating presidency until July, drafted the letter, seen by Reuters, and will wait for feedback from all 27 EU nations before signing and sending it next week.
While participants in the EU's Emissions Trading Scheme, the bloc's main weapon against climate change, were worried that a 30 percent goal would raise the cost of carbon permits, analysts said the 20 percent target was largely priced into the market.
"Thirty percent is out of the picture for now," said Emmanuel Fages of Societe Generale. "Nobody was seriously attaching any probability to it post-Copenhagen."
At a meeting of EU ambassadors in Brussels on Thursday, a group of eastern European countries led by Poland joined Italy, Cyprus and Malta to call for the deletion of any reference to the 30 percent, even as a conditional offer, diplomats said.
Britain, Denmark, France and the Netherlands wanted the 30 percent offer to be prominent but to remain conditional.
Source: http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE60L1WE20100122
Showing posts with label copenhagen. Show all posts
Showing posts with label copenhagen. Show all posts
Monday, January 25, 2010
Wednesday, December 30, 2009
Copenhagen outcome good but not adequate: Pachauri
NEW DELHI: The Copenhagen Accord was a good outcome but not adequate to fight climate change, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change chief RK
Pachauri said on Wednesday.
"We expected much more from the Copenhagen summit. We need to work very hard and come out with a legally binding commitment. There is a urgency to reach an agreement by the end on 2010 as we are losing valuable time. If delayed further, it will get very difficult and expensive to limit global temperature rise to two degree Celsius," said Pachauri.
Under the accord, by Jan 31, 2010 both developed and developing countries will have to inform of their commitment to mitigate emissions of greenhouse gases that are causing global warming.
"The developed countries will give percentage of emission reduction while developing countries will give nationally appropriate mitigation action. By February next year, we will have fair idea what countries are willing to commit," he said.
Pachauri said action will be taken soon after to use these submissions as a basis for creating a legally binding agreement within a reasonable period of time.
"The Copenhagen Accord does provide a foundation and framework that allows for a binding agreement to be developed incorporating the specific commitments by all countries, particularly industrialised countries," he said.
Source: http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/environment/developmental-issues/Copenhagen-outcome-good-but-not-adequate-Pachauri-/articleshow/5370546.cms
Pachauri said on Wednesday.
"We expected much more from the Copenhagen summit. We need to work very hard and come out with a legally binding commitment. There is a urgency to reach an agreement by the end on 2010 as we are losing valuable time. If delayed further, it will get very difficult and expensive to limit global temperature rise to two degree Celsius," said Pachauri.
Under the accord, by Jan 31, 2010 both developed and developing countries will have to inform of their commitment to mitigate emissions of greenhouse gases that are causing global warming.
"The developed countries will give percentage of emission reduction while developing countries will give nationally appropriate mitigation action. By February next year, we will have fair idea what countries are willing to commit," he said.
Pachauri said action will be taken soon after to use these submissions as a basis for creating a legally binding agreement within a reasonable period of time.
"The Copenhagen Accord does provide a foundation and framework that allows for a binding agreement to be developed incorporating the specific commitments by all countries, particularly industrialised countries," he said.
Source: http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/environment/developmental-issues/Copenhagen-outcome-good-but-not-adequate-Pachauri-/articleshow/5370546.cms
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
'Crystalline sponge' can help capture CO2
Source: The Economic Times
To sequester carbon dioxide as part of any climate-change mitigation strategy, the gas first has to be captured from the flue at a power plant or
other source. The next step is just as important: the CO² has to be released from whatever captured it so that it can be pumped underground or otherwise stored for the long term.
That second step can be costly from an energy standpoint. Materials currently used to capture CO² have to be heated to release the gas.
But chemists at University of California
, Los Angeles, say that a new class of materials they developed called metal-organic frameworks, or MOFs, hold promise for carbon capture. In the study, Omar Yaghi describes the performance of one MOF, which he says can free most of the CO² it captures at room temperature.
Yaghi described a metal-organic framework as a "crystalline sponge", a hybrid lattice of organic compounds and metal atoms that has a huge internal surface area where gas molecules can be absorbed. The MOF used in the study contains magnesium atoms, "which make just the right environment for binding carbon dioxide", he said.
In experiments, the material separated out CO² while allowing methane to pass. What was really surprising, though, was that at room temperature 87% of the CO² could be released.
To sequester carbon dioxide as part of any climate-change mitigation strategy, the gas first has to be captured from the flue at a power plant or
other source. The next step is just as important: the CO² has to be released from whatever captured it so that it can be pumped underground or otherwise stored for the long term.
That second step can be costly from an energy standpoint. Materials currently used to capture CO² have to be heated to release the gas.
But chemists at University of California
, Los Angeles, say that a new class of materials they developed called metal-organic frameworks, or MOFs, hold promise for carbon capture. In the study, Omar Yaghi describes the performance of one MOF, which he says can free most of the CO² it captures at room temperature.
Yaghi described a metal-organic framework as a "crystalline sponge", a hybrid lattice of organic compounds and metal atoms that has a huge internal surface area where gas molecules can be absorbed. The MOF used in the study contains magnesium atoms, "which make just the right environment for binding carbon dioxide", he said.
In experiments, the material separated out CO² while allowing methane to pass. What was really surprising, though, was that at room temperature 87% of the CO² could be released.
Monday, December 7, 2009
Climate: Copenhagen talks set to be a cliff-hanger
Source: The Times of India
COPENHAGEN: Driven by an ever-louder drumbeat of alarm, the world's nations come together on Monday in a bid to lift the curse of climate change
hanging over coming generations.
In the brief history of environmentalism -- and, some would argue, in the longer sweep of human history itself -- the stakes at the 12-day conference in Copenhagen have never been higher.
The goal: to roll back the peril of hunger, disease, drought, flood, storm and rising seas created by mankind's unwitting impact on the weather system.
To achieve this aim, the 192 members of the UN's Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) must show solidarity and sacrifice on an unprecedented scale.
More than 100 leaders are set to attend the finale on December 18. They are under ratcheting pressure to seize the day rather than a photo opportunity, to seal a deal rather than preside over a fiasco.
Trillions of dollars, powerful economic and national interests and the livelihoods of millions underpin the Copenhagen moment.
Countries must agree to curb their use of coal, oil and gas, the fossil fuels hewn from the ground or drilled from beneath the earth that have powered our prosperity -- and helped create the carbon monster.
And they must set up a financial safety net for poor countries least to blame for global warming but most exposed to its wrath, and provide them with technology to avoid becoming big polluters in turn.
"The aim is nothing less than to slice through the Gordian knot intertwining climate change and development," says Jean-Charles Hourcade of the International Centre on Environment and Development (CIRED), a French thinktank.
Some thinkers, like British economist Nicholas Stern, liken the December 7-18 conference in importance to Bretton Woods, the 1944 conference that reshaped the world's monetary system.
Others see it as a do-or-die moment for the United Nations, for it raises core questions about the ability of nation states to cooperate.
"It is a very crucial test of the UN system," Rajendra Pachauri, head of the UN panel of climate scientists, told AFP. "It is an extremely important test of the ability of nation states to get together and manage the global commons."
The road to Copenhagen began two years ago, at UNFCCC talks in Bali, Indonesia.
There, after arduous wrangling, countries set their eyes on a global pact that would take effect from 2013, after current pledges expire under the Kyoto Protocol, the world's first emissions-curbing accord.
Bit by bit, hopes that Copenhagen would yield a soup-to-nuts treaty have vanished.
The lesser objective now is a strong outline accord, one that can be fleshed out by further negotiations in 2010.
Yet there is no guarantee that even this skeletal agreement can be reached.
Mistrust is entrenched among -- and within -- the three main negotiation groups.
Poor countries are angry that rich countries, as a bloc, have not come nearly far enough on their emissions and funding proposals.
Developing nations, they say, will not sign up to any targeted, binding emissions of their own, arguing they too have the right to use cheap, plentiful fossil fuels to haul themselves out of poverty.
The European Union (EU), meanwhile, is looking to the United States, the world's No. 2 polluter, to dig deep into its pocket and its carbon pollution.
The US, meanwhile, is turning to the emerging giants -- China, No. 1 emitter, as well as India and Brazil -- for proof that their emissions measures, while voluntary, will be tough, transparent and verifiable.
Even if this negotiation triangle can be smoothed out into a consensus, another problem lurks: what kind of legal form should this agreement take?
Poorer countries are clamouring for a second round of pledges under the Kyoto Protocol, yet this seems out of the question so long as the United States remains outside that treaty.
The negotiations are likely to start low-paced, building to a crescendo in the middle of the second week with the arrival of environment ministers, followed by the heads of state or government, including the leaders of the United States, China, Germany, France and Britain.
The likelihood beckons of frenzied all-night climate poker in the back rooms.
Green activists have scheduled demonstrations on Saturday, December 12, while a hard-left group has threatened to interrupt the talks at Copenhagen's Bella Center on December 16.
COPENHAGEN: Driven by an ever-louder drumbeat of alarm, the world's nations come together on Monday in a bid to lift the curse of climate change
hanging over coming generations.
In the brief history of environmentalism -- and, some would argue, in the longer sweep of human history itself -- the stakes at the 12-day conference in Copenhagen have never been higher.
The goal: to roll back the peril of hunger, disease, drought, flood, storm and rising seas created by mankind's unwitting impact on the weather system.
To achieve this aim, the 192 members of the UN's Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) must show solidarity and sacrifice on an unprecedented scale.
More than 100 leaders are set to attend the finale on December 18. They are under ratcheting pressure to seize the day rather than a photo opportunity, to seal a deal rather than preside over a fiasco.
Trillions of dollars, powerful economic and national interests and the livelihoods of millions underpin the Copenhagen moment.
Countries must agree to curb their use of coal, oil and gas, the fossil fuels hewn from the ground or drilled from beneath the earth that have powered our prosperity -- and helped create the carbon monster.
And they must set up a financial safety net for poor countries least to blame for global warming but most exposed to its wrath, and provide them with technology to avoid becoming big polluters in turn.
"The aim is nothing less than to slice through the Gordian knot intertwining climate change and development," says Jean-Charles Hourcade of the International Centre on Environment and Development (CIRED), a French thinktank.
Some thinkers, like British economist Nicholas Stern, liken the December 7-18 conference in importance to Bretton Woods, the 1944 conference that reshaped the world's monetary system.
Others see it as a do-or-die moment for the United Nations, for it raises core questions about the ability of nation states to cooperate.
"It is a very crucial test of the UN system," Rajendra Pachauri, head of the UN panel of climate scientists, told AFP. "It is an extremely important test of the ability of nation states to get together and manage the global commons."
The road to Copenhagen began two years ago, at UNFCCC talks in Bali, Indonesia.
There, after arduous wrangling, countries set their eyes on a global pact that would take effect from 2013, after current pledges expire under the Kyoto Protocol, the world's first emissions-curbing accord.
Bit by bit, hopes that Copenhagen would yield a soup-to-nuts treaty have vanished.
The lesser objective now is a strong outline accord, one that can be fleshed out by further negotiations in 2010.
Yet there is no guarantee that even this skeletal agreement can be reached.
Mistrust is entrenched among -- and within -- the three main negotiation groups.
Poor countries are angry that rich countries, as a bloc, have not come nearly far enough on their emissions and funding proposals.
Developing nations, they say, will not sign up to any targeted, binding emissions of their own, arguing they too have the right to use cheap, plentiful fossil fuels to haul themselves out of poverty.
The European Union (EU), meanwhile, is looking to the United States, the world's No. 2 polluter, to dig deep into its pocket and its carbon pollution.
The US, meanwhile, is turning to the emerging giants -- China, No. 1 emitter, as well as India and Brazil -- for proof that their emissions measures, while voluntary, will be tough, transparent and verifiable.
Even if this negotiation triangle can be smoothed out into a consensus, another problem lurks: what kind of legal form should this agreement take?
Poorer countries are clamouring for a second round of pledges under the Kyoto Protocol, yet this seems out of the question so long as the United States remains outside that treaty.
The negotiations are likely to start low-paced, building to a crescendo in the middle of the second week with the arrival of environment ministers, followed by the heads of state or government, including the leaders of the United States, China, Germany, France and Britain.
The likelihood beckons of frenzied all-night climate poker in the back rooms.
Green activists have scheduled demonstrations on Saturday, December 12, while a hard-left group has threatened to interrupt the talks at Copenhagen's Bella Center on December 16.
Emission cuts: India follows China's footsteps
Published on Thu 3rd Dec 2009 12:39:25
Source: Zopang.com
New Delhi, December 3 :
Following in China's footsteps, India has also decided to slow down the growth of greenhouse gas emissions.
Last week, China had claimed that it would cut carbon emissions up to 45 percent by 2020. India has decided to cut its carbon intensity by 24 percent by 2020.
India is at present under immense pressure to pronounce the details of how it would cut its carbon intensity. New Delhi's position will strengthen at the Copenhagen summit if it is successful in its aim.
Minister of State for Environment and Forests Jairam Ramesh said, "We now have taken on performance targets in energy, building, forestry and various sectors of the economy. We are not going to be taking any legally binding emission cuts. That is simply out of the question, but we can look at various alternatives. Incidentally, our carbon intensity is very low. The Chinese have just announced a carbon intensity decline by 2020 and according to that, they will be in the year 2020 where India was in 2005 as far as carbon intensity is concerned."
With this stand, India is under immense pressure to set emissions targets ahead of the Copenhagen summit. The western countries are imposing their pressure on India to quantify the cuts.
To add to that, the developed countries want India to draw out and state a plan that India will follow to cut its emissions.
Source: Zopang.com
New Delhi, December 3 :
Following in China's footsteps, India has also decided to slow down the growth of greenhouse gas emissions.
Last week, China had claimed that it would cut carbon emissions up to 45 percent by 2020. India has decided to cut its carbon intensity by 24 percent by 2020.
India is at present under immense pressure to pronounce the details of how it would cut its carbon intensity. New Delhi's position will strengthen at the Copenhagen summit if it is successful in its aim.
Minister of State for Environment and Forests Jairam Ramesh said, "We now have taken on performance targets in energy, building, forestry and various sectors of the economy. We are not going to be taking any legally binding emission cuts. That is simply out of the question, but we can look at various alternatives. Incidentally, our carbon intensity is very low. The Chinese have just announced a carbon intensity decline by 2020 and according to that, they will be in the year 2020 where India was in 2005 as far as carbon intensity is concerned."
With this stand, India is under immense pressure to set emissions targets ahead of the Copenhagen summit. The western countries are imposing their pressure on India to quantify the cuts.
To add to that, the developed countries want India to draw out and state a plan that India will follow to cut its emissions.
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