As pressure builds on China and India to accept greater obligations to cut down carbon emissions, both countries have asserted that measures to combat climate change need to factor in the principle of equitable access to development opportunities.Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh said developing countries have to strike a balance between growth objectives and emission mitigation as experts reminded that developed nations have over-used their fair share.“I want to reiterate that...
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China, Japan clash over Kyoto Protocol
Negotiators from China and Japan clashed over the Kyoto Protocol at the UN climate change meet here, highlighting the uncertain future of the only treaty that puts legally binding emission targets on industrialised nations. Noting that some countries do not "like" the Kyoto Protocol, deputy head of China's delegation, Huang Huikang said, "Now we are even more worried about the KP (Kyoto Protocol)...they even want to kill the KP." "There must be...
More »U.S. lacks bargaining chips at Cancun climate talks by Ren Haijun, Liu Lili
The new political landscape emerging from U.S. midterm elections has almost killed any likelihood that a climate bill could be passed over the next two years and substantially hampered the White House's efforts on the issue. That means U.S. climate negotiators at the Cancun talks, being held from Nov. 29 to Dec. 10, lack the bargaining chips to demand that rapidly developing countries agree to binding emissions cuts. CAP-AND-TRADE BILL IN LIMBO A...
More »Current emissions risk 'devastating' temperature rise, scientists warn by Matthew Knight
A rise in global temperatures of four degree Celsius is likely to occur during the 21st century causing "devastating impacts" if greenhouse gas emissions continue rising at the current rate, according to a group of international scientists. In a special issue of the UK journal "Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A" -- which coincides with the start of the United Nations climate talks in Cancun, Mexico -- scientists argue that...
More »Agreement on new emission cut regime unlikely at Cancun by Meena Menon
The sights are set on smaller, though just as important, issues With the first commitment to emission reductions under the Kyoto Protocol expiring in December 2012, the world is looking to a new regime of cuts, which is unlikely to be successfully negotiated here. In 2009, the U.N. Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen set a target of achieving a binding treaty and it did not happen. Now the sights are set on...
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