UN chief urges binding climate deal

22 Dec 2009, 11:06 am   -   Source: AFP, AAP
1 Comments
Share This
+ Comment
1

UN chief Ban Ki-moon has urged world leaders to clinch a legally binding climate change treaty next year, saying the Copenhagen deal didn't go far enough.

RELATED

Conceding that the climate change deal reached in Copenhagen did not go far enough, UN chief Ban Ki-moon has urged world leaders to clinch a legally binding treaty next year.

"I am aware that the outcome of the Copenhagen conference, including the Copenhagen Accord, did not go as far as many would have hoped," Ban told reporters at UN headquarters on his return from the Danish capital.

"Nonetheless they represent a beginning, an essential beginning. We have taken an important step in the right direction." he added.

Ban pressed all world leaders "to directly engage in achieving a global legally binding climate change treaty in 2010" and said the challenge for the UN was to marshal the necessary political will and translate it into action.

The UN boss said he would early next year set up a high-level panel on development and climate change to address those issues.

Copenhagen agreement

The agreement in Copenhagen was assembled by the leaders of the United States, China, India, Brazil, South Africa and major European nations, after it became clear the 194-nation summit was in danger of failure.

It promised $US100 billion ($A112.25 billion) for poor nations that risk bearing the brunt of the global warming fallout and set a commitment to limit global warming to two degrees Celsius.

Now negotiators and NGOs alike are pinning their hopes on the next big climate rendezvous a year from now, in Mexico City.

The goal is to sign a treaty in Mexico City in December 2010 and have it take effect from 2013, after the current roster of pledges under the UN's Kyoto Protocol expire.

The UN's Nobel-winning Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has warned that voracious use of coal and other fossil fuels will see planetary warming of up to 6.4 degrees Celsius by 2100 unless carbon pollution was deeply slashed.

Scientists say hundreds of millions of people are threatened in the next few decades by worsening drought, floods, storms and rising sea levels as a result of rising temperatures.

ETS negotiations

Meanwhile in Australia, Greens leader Bob Brown says it's in Australia's best interest to pass the government's emissions trading scheme.

Climate Change Minister Penny Wong this morning made it clear the government won't budge in its negotiations with the Greens over emissions targets, which they want increased to between 25 to 40 per cent.

Senator Wong says the Greens demand for targets isn't a responsible way forward and they have taken a position which the government can't negotiate on.

But Senator Brown has told ABC television the ETS requires the government negotiate on targets.

He also says Senator Wong should be looking at other ways to reduce emissions and pollution, such as solar power and energy efficiency technology and the banning of logging in forests and woodlands.

  • Follow us: 
  • Follow us on Facebook
  • Follow us on Twitter
  • Follow us on Youtube

Your Comments

Brown for pm

alexandar denmeade - from blue mountains, 2 years ago

When can we have a real leader in australia?? why must we always have a push over only prepared to 'do no more and no less then other countries'? if we don't begin to take the innitiative in climate change the world will sit on the fence until the waters rise and consume us. brown is a visionary and needs our support. lets leave kevin to his coal appeasing and get come together to support brown in his quest to save australia and the world>

Join the Discussion

Name
City / Suburb E.g. Artarmon, Sydney
Title
Comment
You have characters remaining.
Validation
What's this?
This is a captcha-picture. It is used to prevent mass-access by robots.
All submitted comments become the property of SBS. They are moderated, so we reserve the right to edit comments and remove HTML tags. Not all submitted comments will be published. Publication does not mean we endorse the opinions expressed. Please read our terms and conditions for more information.