Denmark warns of Copenhagen fiasco
COPENHAGEN (AFP) - Denmark's climate minister Monday predicted that a UN summit in Copenhagen in December would not reach a global climate accord without the backing of the United States to aggressively cut greenhouse gas emissions.
"In the 21st century, I cannot imagine a global climate accord without the agreement of the major economies, including naturally the United States," Connie Hedegaard, Danish minister for climate and energy, said ahead of the COP15 meeting.
She called for "the Americans to understand that their position as a world power in dealing with major global problems is at stake."
The international community is anxious for US President Barack Obama and the Democratic Congress "to come up with a climate policy that is sufficiently ambitious," she added.
The UN talks on December 7-18 are aimed at creating a global framework for combatting climate change to replace the Kyoto Protocol, which expires in 2012.
Hedegaard also pointed to the need for major emerging economies, among the world's biggest polluting nations, such as India and China, to take measures to slash the heat-trapping gases that drive global warming.
"It is clear that the whole world is aware of the need not to repeat the error of the Kyoto Protocol which the United States did not sign on to in the end and India and China never took part," she said.
Hedegaard's comments were made in reaction to an article in the New York Times on Saturday which quoted a close Obama advisor, Carol Browner, as saying that there was hardly any chance of the US Congress adopting a law to cut greenhouse gas emissions before the Copenhagen summit.
The Danish minister said she remained optimistic that a global climate accord can be achieved at the December conference and that the Danish government was seeking to organise a series of high-level government meetings over the next two months to speed up negotiations.
Denmark is studying the possibility of a meeting of heads of state and government before the UN climate summit, she added.
For more than two years, the troubled UN climate talks have been stymied on critical issues dividing rich and poor nations.
They disagree over how to share out the task of cutting greenhouse gases, and how much money developing countries should receive to fight climate change and cope with its impacts.
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Last Updated (Tuesday, 06 October 2009 07:35)
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