Washington, December 16
A hard-fought deal by a 190-nation conference, to negotiate a new pact to fight global warming, has run into rough weather with the US today expressing "serious concerns" over some provisions and saying major developing countries like India and China should be set emission targets just like developed ones.
A UN climate conference in Bali had yesterday adopted a plan, which fixed 2009 as the deadline for a new global warming treaty that would replace the Kyoto protocol, after the US lifted last-ditch opposition to a call by developing nations for technological help to battle rising temperatures.
While many features of the Bali deal were "quite positive", the US has "serious concerns about other aspects of the decision as we begin the negotiations," White House Press Secretary Dana Perino said in a statement.
"The negotiations must proceed on the view that the problem of climate change cannot be adequately addressed through commitments for emissions cuts by developed countries alone. Major developing economies must likewise act," Perino said.
The US, the only major industrialised nation to reject Kyoto, argues that the UN-sponsored agreement, which will expire in 2012, is unfair as it does not require rapidly growing emerging economies like India and China to curb their greenhouse gas emissions.
New Delhi: India on Sunday said the roadmap from Bali, where 190 nations joined hands to fight global warming, was clear and unambiguous with both developed and developing worlds having their own obligations.
“I think the developed world has appreciated the fact that they have commitments and the developing world has appreciated the fact that they have responsibilities. As long as that is understood, the roadmap from Bali is clear and unambiguous,” union science and technology minister Kapil Sibal said.
Sibal’s comments came after the Bali conference yesterday set a 2009 deadline for a landmark pact to fight global warming.
After talks and an impassioned intervention by UN chief Ban Ki-moon, the Bali conference agreed to launch a process to negotiate a new treaty that will take effect when the UN Kyoto Protocol’s commitments expire in 2012.
— Agencies
