Ten days of international negotiations wrapped up in Bonn, Germany yesterday, as delegates from more than 170 nations worked to create a climate change treaty by the end of the year.
The United Nations-led conference opened up with great enthusiasm as the U.S. delegation under the new presidential leadership made it’s first appearance.
However, the session ended in much the same place as earlier meetings-with no concrete targets for greenhouse gas emissions and no monetary commitments for mitigation and adaptation measures.
The Obama team reportedly held dozens of bilateral meetings with other countries that led to a generally positive atmosphere.
However, by Wednesday many officials were said to be impatient.
"We are still waiting for the U.S. to put its position on the table," said Michael Zammit-Cutajar, a top official of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. "They have asked us to keep the door open, and it is," he said.
Jonathan Pershing, the U.S. deputy special envoy for climate change, said the Obama administration will bring a "much more detailed set of policies" to the next round of negotiations beginning June 1.
He said the plan would require all countries, including developing nations like China and India, to curb greenhouse gas emissions.
He also said it will focus on long-range goals for greenhouse gas emissions–as distant as 2050. This is undoubtedly because the Obama administration’s midterm goals do not match those being called for by the international community.
Obama wants the U.S. to reduce emissions to 1990 levels by 2020, and reduce levels progressively to 80% of 1990 levels by 2050. The European Union has proposed reductions of 25% to 35% compared with 1990 levels by 2020.
An alliance of small island states, backed by a dozen African and Latin American nations, urged developed nations to reduce emissions by at least 45% below 1990 levels by the year 2020.
Pershing said that for the U.S. "Those numbers will be determined by Congress," which is currently debating climate change and energy legislation.
Reforestation
According to the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF), negotiators made some headway on the critical issue of deforestation.
EDF said several nations–including Colombia, India and Norway–called for a special session to discuss compensation for developing countries to protect forests as part of a new global climate deal. According to a New York Times report, a majority of nations agreed that compensation for forest nations was important, and many suggested that financing through carbon markets would be needed.
Cap and trade
Delegates reportedly also discussed whether or not a new climate treaty should resemble the Kyoto Protocol and whether it should include a cap-and-trade framework modeled on the European Union’s trading system.
Annie Petsonk, international counsel for the Environmental Defense Fund, told the New York Times that while this approach seemed likely, one difficult question remains: Which countries will be required to cap emissions?
Saudi Arabia
During negotiations this week, Saudi Arabia, the world’s largest oil exporter, said the ongoing climate change talks threaten its economic survival.
"It’s a matter of survival for us, also. So we are among the most vulnerable countries, economically," one delegate Mohammad Al Sabban told Reuters.
He said his country has done little to diversify and that it is in need of support to develop alternative energy sources and to bury carbon emissions in near-depleted oil wells.
The country would like access to any future adaptation funds, despite a recent claim by the country’s oil minister that oil will continue to the primary source of global energy for years to come, while renewable energy should be thought of as "supplemental."
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