An international agreement on a post-Kyoto climate policy will not be easy to achieve. A conference on climate change in Bonn, Germany revealed profound divergences – and some common ground.
 | Evidence pointing to melting icecaps is one reason the international community shares a sense of urgency about addressing climate change. |
Business-as-usual: On the first day of the conference, Canadian Environment Minister Rona Ambrose announced that her nation could not meet the cuts in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions previously agreed upon in the Kyoto Protocol of 1997.
Ambrose called the mandatory targets imposed by Kyoto "unachievable," and seemed to favor voluntary measures to combat climate change - the path preferred by the United States and Australia, two industrialized nations that have not ratified the Kyoto Protocol.
The statements by the Canadian delegation were perceived as a setback for a meeting intended to discuss the long-term future of the Kyoto Protocol. This landmark amendment to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) committed dozens of industrialized nations to mandatory cuts in GHG emissions during 2008-2012.
Despite a controversial beginning, Richard Kinley, interim head of the UN Climate Change Secretariat, was "very encouraged" by the international dialog and negotiations that took place during the two-week conference.
A sense of urgency
Kinley told a press conference that there was an international consensus about "the urgency in dealing with the problem" of climate change. But even with this consensus, Kinley added that it is "very clear from the discussions that took place that (future) negotiations are going to be difficult."
While the focus of the Bonn conference was only on agreeing about a process for moving forward, Kinley said that discussions about post-2012 climate policy will "move much more into substance" at the upcoming UNFCCC meeting scheduled for November in Nairobi, Kenya.
Praising the steps made at the Bonn conference, Jennifer Morgan, director of the Climate Change Program at the World Wildlife Fund for Nature (WWF), noted that maintaining a sense of urgency is important.
"A real serious scale up in the intensity of the work is needed," Morgan said in Bonn. "Because if not, the impacts of climate change are just going to overtake this process."
Willing to talk
Casting a faint shadow over the proceedings in Bonn was the Asia-Pacific Partnership on Clean Development and Climate, a six non-treaty agreement involving the United States, China, India, Japan, Australia and South Korea that aims to address climate change with flexible, voluntary measures, such as technology exchange. The agreement, otherwise known as AP6, was announced in July 2005 and has been criticized for not introducing mandatory measures or targets on the signatory countries.
"It is definitely sensible to supplement the Kyoto Protocol with multi- and bilateral technology agreements," says Sven Anemüller, senior advisor of climate and development at Germanwatch, a Bonn-based NGO that focuses on international environmental issues.
"But even as the United States has said itself, the Asia-Pacific pact does not represent an alternative to the Kyoto Protocol," adds Anemüller. "If it depended on such treaties alone, we would be treading a path leading to dangerous climate change. Without legally binding international agreements, this would be unavoidable."
Aside from the international dialog and negotiations at Bonn, there were also a number of workshops and sideline discussions, such as those that presented research findings about carbon capture and storage (CSS) and the climatic impacts of deforestation.
Many experts realize that the long-term success of international climate policy - from slowing deforestation to reducing carbon emissions - hinges on the participation of developing countries, which often have to balance international commitments with efforts to tackle widespread poverty. Recognizing the challenging negotiations that lie ahead at Nairobi and subsequent meetings, Sven Anemüller is nonetheless encouraged by recent, constructive engagement from India, China, South Africa and Brazil.
"Unlike two or three years ago, there is a willingness to talk and discuss with each other," says Anemüller.
editor: Valdis Wish
publishing date: June 20, 2006
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