Dispute over poorer states’ role in cutting emissions

Date: 23/09/1999

By Renée Cordes

THE European Commission is resisting US calls for less-developed countries to make concrete commitments to limit greenhouse gas emissions at the next world climate change conference.

Although both sides have said they intend to focus on areas where signatories to the Kyoto accord agree at next month's talks in Bonn, some Commission officials fear that arguments over the role of poorer countries in the fight against climate change could hamper the chances of making any real progress.

Under the terms of the 1997 Kyoto protocol, most industrialised countries committed themselves to reducing greenhouse gases emissions by specific percentages by 2012. The US now wants less-developed nations to do the same.

Mark Hambley, the US administration's special negotiator on climate change, met Commission officials last week to try to find common ground ahead of the Bonn conference, which begins on 25 October.

But despite pressure from the Commission, the US - which has not yet ratified the Kyoto protocol - is still insisting that developing countries must be given a greater role in combating climate change.

Hambley acknowledged that emissions were certain to rise greatly in several poorer countries with growing economies, and suggested setting targets for limiting emission increases rather than reduction targets. He also proposed distinguishing between heavily polluting and less-polluting developing countries.

But the Commission urged Washington not to shift the focus to developing countries yet. "We need the involvement of developing countries in the long term, but we should focus on developed countries first because we are the ones who have caused the problem," explained one.

The European Commission is resisting US calls for less-developed countries to make concrete commitments to limit greenhouse gas emissions at the next world climate change conference.