Cancun climate talks produce 'modest' deal

The latest international deal on climate, reached early Saturday after hard days of bargaining, was described by exhausted delegates as a "step forward" in grappling with global warming.

If they step too far, however, they're going to bump into an elephant in the room.

That would be the US Republican Party.

In endless hours of speeches at the annual United Nations climate conference, the US political situation was hardly mentioned, despite its crucial role in how the world will confront what the Cancun final documents called "one of the greatest challenges of our time".

Not everyone held his tongue. Seas rising from warming, and threatening their homes, got Pacific islanders talking.

Marcus Stephen, president of Nauru, spoke despairingly of "governments deadlocked because of ideological divisions".

Enele Sopoaga, Tuvalu's deputy prime minister, referred to the "backward politics" of one unnamed developed nation.

A US friend, Prime Minister Meles Zenawi of Ethiopia, told a large gathering here, "The key thing for us is not whether the American Congress is controlled by this or that party," but that richer nations help the developing world with financial support — for clean energy sources, new seawalls, new water systems and other projects to try to stem and cope with climate change and the droughts, floods, disease and extreme weather it portends.

The conference on Saturday adopted a modest climate deal creating a fund to help the developing world go green, though it deferred for another year the tough work of carving out deeper reductions in carbon emissions causing Earth to steadily warm.

Though the accords were limited, it was the first time in three years the 193-nation conference adopted any climate action, restoring faith in the unwieldy UN process after the letdown a year ago at a much-anticipated summit in Copenhagen.

The Cancun Agreements created institutions for delivering technology and funding to poorer countries, though they did not say where the funding would come from.

In urging industrial countries to move faster on emissions cuts, it noted that scientists recommended reducing greenhouse gas emissions from industrial countries by 25-40 per cent from 1990 levels within the next 10 years. Current pledges amount to about 16 per cent.

Mexican President Felipe Calderon, in a 4 am speech, declared the conference "a thoroughgoing success," after two separate agreements were passed.

The agreements shattered "the inertia of mistrust" that had settled over the frustrated efforts for a broad climate treaty, he said.

One of the agreements renewed a framework for cutting greenhouse gas emissions but set no new targets for industrial countries.

The second created a financial and technical support system for developing countries facing grave threats from global warming.

Foreign Secretary Patricia Espinosa, the conference president, gavelled the deal through early Saturday over the objections of Bolivia's delegate, who said it was so weak it would endanger the planet.

Decisions at the UN climate talks are typically made by consensus, but Espinosa said consensus doesn't "mean that one country has the right to veto" decisions supported by everyone else.

The accord establishes a multibillion-dollar annual Green Climate Fund to help developing countries cope with climate change, though it doesn't say how the fund's money is to be raised.

Last year in Copenhagen governments agreed to mobilise US$100 billion a year for developing countries, starting in 2020, much of which will be handled by the fund.

The agreements also set rules for internationally funded forest conservation, and provides for climate-friendly technology to expanding economies.

"It's been a challenging, tiring and intensive week" said US special climate envoy Todd Stern, clearly content with the results.

The European Union's top climate official, Connie Hedegaard, said Saturday's decisions would help keep international climate talks on track.

"But the two weeks in Cancun have shown once again how slow and difficult the process is," Hedegaard said. "Everyone needs to be aware that we still have a long and challenging journey ahead of us to reach the goal of a legally binding global climate framework."

Christiana Figueres, the UN's senior climate official, said the agreements would put all governments on cleaner trajectory. "Cancun has done its job," she said.

Environmentalists cautiously welcomed the deal.

It "wasn't enough to save the climate," said Alden Meyer of the Washington-based Union of Concerned Scientists.

"But it did restore the credibility of the United Nations as a forum where progress can be made."

The Cancun deal finessed disputes between industrial and developing countries on future emissions cuts and incorporates voluntary reduction pledges attached to the Copenhagen Accord that emerged from last year's climate summit in the Danish capital.

It struck a skilful compromise between the US and China, which had been at loggerheads throughout the two week conclave on methods for monitoring and verifying actions to curtail greenhouse gases.

The accord "goes beyond what we expected when we came here," said Wendel Trio of the Greenpeace environmental group.

- AP

Underscoring what's at stake in the long-running climate talks, NASA reported that the January-November 2010 global temperatures were the warmest in the 131-year record.

Its data indicated the year would likely end as the warmest on record, or tied with 2005 as the warmest.

The UN's top climate science body has said swift and deep reductions are required to keep temperatures from rising more than 2 degrees Celsius (3.8 degrees F) above preindustrial levels, which could trigger catastrophic climate impacts.