CB BureauRepresentatives of 194 countries finally arrived at Durban with
their own agendas to find solutions to control escalating global
temperatures. Before they all settled
down to start negotiations, they presented their positions.
Here is the stand of each influential country:
USA
The United States says that even if China and India agree to sign up to a new deal in the years to come, it cannot guarantee its own involvement. Instead, it has suggested that voluntary agreements to cut emissions agreed at previous summits in Copenhagen and Cancun are enough.
‘We are not sure that kind of agreement needs to be
signed here. We have got a whole lot of agreements that take us through to
2020,’ said Jonathan Pershing, the US deputy special envoy for climate change.
At the other end, experts say that voluntary agreements will not
be sufficient to stop global temperatures from increasing by two degrees
Celsius, leaving a minimal change to control climate
change.
The United States had signed the Kyoto Protocol when it
was first adopted in Japan in 1997, but subsequently refused to ratify it
unless developing countries also agreed on legally-binding emissions targets.
Current target: 17
per cent reductions on 2005 levels by 2020
European Union
England and other European countries had
already declared that they were willing to sign a second Kyoto Protocol if developed
countries agreed to legally-binding emissions targets.
Artur Runge-Metzger, the EU’s chief negotiator, said that,
in return, he wanted to see the USA and developing countries including China,
now the world’s biggest net polluter, agreeing to sign up to a deal by
2015.
‘You can have an engagement, but that doesn’t mean a marriage.
There’s a difference between the two, but at least with an engagement, you are
heading towards marriage, something that’s legally binding,’ said Runge-Metzger.
Current target: 20 per
cent below 1990 levels by 2020
China
China says that it is still a developing country and its emissions
‘per capita’ are well below those of developed countries. Its stand is that the
country’s development will not be possible with so many restrictions. It says that it has pledged to cut emissions
from industrial growth, but as long as the USA continues to act of its own
accord, it will do the same.
At the start of the climate change summit in Durban,
China aligned itself with India and 76 other developing countries, issuing a
joint statement calling for developed countries to commit to a second Kyoto
Protocol limiting their emissions. Without such a deal, it has been suggested,
a legally-binding emissions deal for all countries in the future is untenable.
Current target: 17
per cent below 2005 levels by 2020
South Africa
Like China, South Africa says that as a developing
country, it has a right to continue to expand its industry and should not be
limited by emissions caps in the same way as countries that are already
developed.
South Africa, as the biggest emitter of greenhouse gases
on the continent and the host nation, will have to balance this perceived right
with the need to push for poorer and less developed African countries to be protected
from the extreme weather that is likely to be generated by climate change.
Civil society groups in South Africa have suggested that
as a result of its considerable emissions, it is ‘deeply compromised’. The country’s current target to cut emissions by 2020 is among the highest.
Current target: 34
per cent below ‘business as usual’ by 2020
Whether industrial countries will extend their
commitments to further reduce their carbon emissions,
whether progress will be made on a Green Climate Fund to
help poor countries cope with climate change, and whether the above-stated stands will dilute
and countries will come to a consensus, will all become clear in the next few days.
The summit has only just begun.
In
the picture: A member of the Trans African Climate Caravan of Hope displays a sign on the opening day of the the UN climate change conference in
Durban on Monday. Protesters calling for climate justice are gathering outside
the conference. Photo by Alexander Joe, AFP
Information
Source: The Telegraph