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China Sets Tough Conditions For Binding Climate Agreement After 2020

China Sets Tough Conditions For Binding Climate Agreement After 2020
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Δευ, 5 Δεκεμβρίου 2011 - 18:49
China could agree to binding emissions cuts after 2020 if developed countries take far-reaching steps to mitigate climate change by then, a top Chinese official said Monday, in a subtle shift that could put the onus on countries such as the U.S. to take action.
China could agree to binding emissions cuts after 2020 if developed countries take far-reaching steps to mitigate climate change by then, a top Chinese official said Monday, in a subtle shift that could put the onus on countries such as the U.S. to take action.

"After 2020...the framework, I think, should be a legally binding one," said Xie Zhenhua, vice chairman of China 's National Development and Reform Commission and one of the country's top negotiators at United Nations-led climate talks.

"We accept a legally binding arrangement with (preconditions)," Xie said.

The China comments injected new energy into the second week of climate talks, which opened Nov. 28 to low expectations given long-standing disputes between the U.S. , China and other major players. Yet the China pledge was attached to major conditions that have dogged recent climate negotiations. Some key participants also raised questions about what China 's remarks really meant.

Xie's comments and other official Chinese statements in recent days implied a willingness for China to subject itself to binding climate emissions cuts. That would mark a significant shift from China 's previous position. For years China has rejected binding targets for itself except in a distant and unspecified future.

U.S. and European negotiators said they wanted to clarify China 's intent in private meetings with Xie.

" China has always been in favor of a legally binding outcome. The key question...is: will a legally binding deal also mean that China is equally legally bound? That is the key point and that is where I think what we've heard yesterday still needs a lot of clarification," said Connie Hedegaard, European Commissioner for Climate Action.

China has in the past objected to international verification of its emissions, a long-standing demand of the U.S. to any deal.

"I don't know what he's saying yet, and I will be very happy to talk to him," Todd Stern, the chief U.S. negotiator in Durban , said when asked about Xie's comments. "I do know that up to now China has not been willing to do the kind of legally binding agreement that I'm talking about."

The U.S. favors firm individual commitments to cut emissions rather than an omnibus legal imperative for nations to cut emissions, Stern said. For the U.S. to agree to a binding deal, China would have to join the U.S. as a developed nation subject to the most stringent cuts, and other loopholes would have to be eliminated. "No trap doors, no Swiss cheese," Stern said.

Xie's comments Monday and other Chinese statements in recent days point to at least a partial pivot from previous views, which have placed the burden for emissions reduction on developed countries. A statement by Xie in a story by the state-run Xinhua news agency implied a greater recognition of the need for developing countries to take action.

"Developed countries should bear for the historical responsibilities of climate change and lead the emission cut while providing fund and technology to developing countries for better responding the climate change," Xie said in the Xinhua report. "On the other hand, developing countries should take action in the framework of sustainable development," he said.

Conference organizers welcomed the apparent shift in China 's negotiating position.

"It is China laying the cards on the table," said Maite Nkoana Mashabane, South Africa 's foreign minister and president of the ongoing talks.

But Xie's pledge came with tough conditions. He said a proposed fund to mitigate the effects of climate change in the developing world must receive $30 billion by next year and $100 billion annually by 2020. And crucially, developed countries that have ratified the so-called Kyoto Protocol, an agreement to cut carbon emissions whose legal requirements expire next year, must agree to extend it, he said.

The U.S. never ratified the agreement, and already three Kyoto signatories, Canada , Japan and Russia , have said they will not extend the treaty. The European Union, which enacted Kyoto , has said it would support a second commitment period if there were an agreement on steps to take for a global binding deal in the decade.

After Xie spoke to a packed news conference here, Christina Figueres, the UN's climate negotiation chief, said the Kyoto Protocol could technically be extended even if those three nations bow out.

"Countries are now considering how do they bring a second commitment period into effect and not whether," to do so, Figueres said.
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