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Novinite.com: UN Summit Agrees Climate Change Deal
3. 1. 2008
Novinite.com
After two weeks of intense wrangling, the UN climate change summit held on the Indonesian island of Bali has agreed a timetable to revive talks on a climate change treaty.
The accord was reached after a last-minute change of heart from the US delegation, who has come under increasing criticism from its European allies over its refusal to join the talks to set carbon emission caps.
"We've listened very closely to many of our colleagues here during these two weeks, but especially to what has been said in this hall today. We will go forward and join consensus," Paula Dobriansky, who led the U.S. delegation, told the other assembled delegates.
The next step is a two-year process of negotiations to agree on a set of emission targets that will replace those set out in the Kyoto Protocol, expiring in 2012 and rejected by the US.
However, the agreement reached in Bali does not bind any government, which is a lot less than what EU wanted.
European countries had hoped to lead the way with other developed economies, and initially demanded industrialised nations commit to cuts of 25-40% by 2020, but might have to wait for a change in Washington, as the Bush administration remains strongly opposed to capping US emissions.
Environmental groups and some delegates have criticised the draft as being weak and a missed opportunity, but it would have been even weaker without US, others said.
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