Climate talks back $ 100 billion Relief Fund

Sent to the United Nations talks agreed on a package to limit global warming by protecting forests, advice on the adaptation of the nations at higher temperatures and the opening of a 100 billion U.S. dollars climate Green Fund.

The group representing 193 nations aside the differences between rich and poor nations over how to limit emissions of greenhouse gases after 2012, when the restrictions in the 1997 Kyoto Protocol expires. This issue may muddy the talks next year.

"There is still a long road ahead, a difficult journey," said Connie Hedegaard, the European Commission envoy at the talks in Cancun, Mexico, in an interview. "But we've shown in recent days that compromise is possible. That's the kind of spirit we need."

Cancun Agreements help heal a rift that led to the collapse of negotiations last year in Copenhagen, where 144 nations led by the U.S. and China were separated from the rest of the group to register for voluntary measures to limit pollution from fossil fuels. Bolivia, which was among the six countries that blocked an agreement in 2009, opposed the program this year.

"It's a pretty good balance," said Jennifer Morgan, director of climate and energy program at the Washington-based World Resources Institute. "We've got all the big emerging economies in a fragile UN agreement."

U.S. Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, described the agreement as "a significant step forward and balanced."

Elements of the package

Offers on the text of the UN, delegates received with cheers and standing ovations from many, including:

- A "Green Climate Fund" that would manage a "significant proportion" of the $ 100 million pledged last year in helping the climate of the richest to the poorest countries. The World Bank was invited to manage the fund.

- A mechanism of technology was created to help developing countries take advantage of low-carbon products, such as wind turbines, solar panels and energy saving devices. Other market mechanisms will be discussed at next year's conference in Durban, South Africa.

- A forest plan known as Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation, or REDD. It would fund projects in developing countries use plants to absorb carbon dioxide, the main greenhouse gas. A mention of the use of carbon markets in the program was removed from the agreement.

- A "Cancun Adaptation Framework" to help assess the needs of most vulnerable nations adapt to the effects of high temperatures, such as rising sea levels, increased droughts and melting glaciers.

- A packet of information about how to monitor, report and verify emissions reductions for developed countries and climate protection measures taken by the poorest, or MRV in the jargon of the UN.

"Very substantive"

"These projects represent a real and substantive progress well," said Patricia Espinosa, Mexican Secretary of Foreign Affairs who is leading the talks, the delegates, who received a standing ovation for their efforts.

The text did not pose more stringent emissions targets of any nation, referring instead to the figures published in late for the pieces of the industrialized and developing countries.

The lack of an extension or replacement for the Kyoto treaty may increase the cost of combating climate change, said David Hone, president of the International Emissions Trading Association, a lobbying group based in Geneva,

"No international cohesion makes it more difficult for a response approach based on the market for development," said Whetstone, also Royal Dutch Shell Plc climate advisor. "Ultimately, it leads to a higher cost solution for everyone," he said in a telephone interview from London.

Kyoto differences

The dispute about how to replace or extend the Kyoto crashed two weeks of talks and nearly derailed them. China, India, Brazil and South Africa pressed the industrialized nations to accept new restrictions on fossil fuel emissions once the Kyoto finishes. Japan, Canada and Russia refused, saying the agreement excludes the world's two biggest polluters, the U.S. and China.

"Negotiations are not completely fulfilled," said the head of the delegation of China, Xie Zhenhua delegates at the conference. "The negotiations in the future will remain difficult."

compromise text, which keeps alive the possibility of extending Kyoto without making any country to make new promises. The UN document said countries move as soon as possible to ensure there is no difference between the period of the Kyoto treaty, the first commitment expires in 2012 and the next round of cuts. It suggests "further work will need to make.

Confidence in the Process

"They seem to have solved the riddle of Kyoto," said Tim Gore, policy adviser at Oxfam. "They seem to have a system that will give enough confidence to developing countries to the Kyoto Protocol going forward."

The document notes that developed countries should reduce their combined emissions in the range of 25 to 40 percent below 1990 levels by 2020. That compares with a target of 5.2 percent of 1990 levels between 2008 and 2012 in Kyoto.

"This is a good role, and a good basis for moving forward," said Kuni Shimada, the Japanese envoy, in an interview, praising the work of the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Mexico.

The UN text suggests that the world continues to gain in temperature below 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) and consider the possibility of making the promise of 1.5 degrees. Current commitments to reduce emissions could lead to higher temperatures of up to 5 degrees by the year 2100, the United Nations Environment Programme said 23 November.

"I'm very disappointed, because we are playing around the edges," said Bharrat Jagdeo, President of Guyana, in an interview on 9 December. "The positions are diluted. The greenhouse gases are pumped into the atmosphere."

Copenhagen Close

Last year, Bolivia joined Venezuela, Sudan, Cuba, Nicaragua and Tuvalu to block the Copenhagen agreement, an agreement negotiated by about 30 leaders, including U.S. Barack Obama President and Prime Minister Wen Jiabao of China, if adopted as the official text of the United Nations. Developing countries feel frustrated that the industrialized countries are reducing emissions.

This year Bolivia also said he would not join the consensus. The chair of the meeting ignored the objections and approved the text, taking note of the concerns of Bolivia.

"Bolivia is not ready to sign a document that puts more lives near death," said Pablo Solon, ambassador of the nation at the talks, delegates at the meeting this morning.

The U.S., which has not ratified Kyoto, sat on the sidelines of the debate about extending the treaty. Prefer a new system to limit emissions that requires rapid growth as China and India to join. Todd Stern, head of U.S. delegation in Cancun, said the package was "balance."

A failure in Cancun have led to a loss of confidence in the UN-led effort to curb global warming. And the dispute over how they will replace the Kyoto pact is also threatening the process.

"Kyoto is the central axis," said Alden Meyer, who has attended the UN talks for the United States-based Union of Concerned Scientists for more than a decade, in an interview. "If the message out there is that Kyoto is dead or on life support with no possibility of resuscitation, then developing countries to block anything in the future that the U.S. needs a new treaty."