Climate talks set to hand major problems to Copenhagen

BARCELONA, Spain (AFP) - – Talks on a new UN climate pact headed for a wrap here Friday, leaving a roster of bitterly divisive issues to be hammered out at next month's showdown in Copenhagen.

Senior officials, meeting over five days in Barcelona, made scant headway on the major problems dogging a blueprint for the December 7-18 conference, leaving activists to fear the outcome could be a deal that papers over a bad fudge.

More than 190 nations are called to action under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), aiming for a post-2012 accord to slash emissions from fossil fuels that trap solar heat and drive global warming.

The putative treaty would also channel hundreds of billions of dollars towards poor countries most exposed to disrupted weather systems.

But after nearly two years of haggling, deep rifts remained over burden-sharing between rich and poor nations. The process has also been badly held up by Washington's reluctance to declare its hand while a climate bill slowly makes its way through Congress. Related blog: Homage to catatonia.

European Union and British officials on Thursday said it was possible the Copenhagen outcome could be a framework agreement that would be fleshed out in 2010.

China, the world's no. 1 carbon emitter, added to the gloom.

"If negotiations are going to continue, the document to be signed at the Copenhagen conference should provide political guidance for the next stage" of talks, Vice Foreign Minister He Yafei said in Beijing on Friday.

"The Copenhagen negotiations have encountered some difficulties and setbacks but we should not just give up this process and simply arrive at a conclusion that the Copenhagen conference is going to be a failure," he said.

Forty heads of state or government have signalled they will attend Copenhagen next month, UNFCC Executive Secretary Yvo de Boer said.

Green groups and activists for the Third World accused advanced economies of inaction or backsliding but said there was still time for a strong outcome.

"Of course, failure is still an option," said Martin Kaiser of Greenpeace.

"If the political courage of the industrialised world's leaders like (US President) Obama, (German Chancellor) Merkel and (French President) Sarkozy remains missing in action, then the deal won't get done.

"However, all the pieces are in place. There is enough time. We know what a fair, ambitious and legally binding treaty looks like."

De Boer urged Washington to break the logjam by revealing in Copenhagen how far it proposed curbing its own emissions, the second highest in the world.

US chief negotiator Jonathan Pershing did not rule this out, but said the Obama administration was focused on steering climate-change legislation through Congress.

"The United States has not yet got that deal done at home, and we are very interested in seeing that deal move forward further before we take a decision as to how we would move internationally," he said.

Experts meanwhile warned emissions pledges so far were falling far short of what the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) says is needed to limit warming to a safer two degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit).

"Developed country emission reductions as a whole are currently projected to be eight-to-12 percent below 1990 levels by 2020 after accounting for forestry credits, rather than the 25-40 percent described as necessary," said Michiel Schaeffer of Climate Analytics, a policy research group in Potsdam, Germany.

Actions proposed by developing countries were more encouraging, though.

Their measures, if implemented, could lead to a cut of between five and 20 percent by 2020 over a "business-as-usual" scenario, said Schaeffer.

Curbs by this group of countries need to be in the order of 15-30 percent over "business-as-usual" trends to meet the 2 C (3.6 F) target or lower.

A range of top-level meetings will take place ahead of the Copenhagen talks.

A November 14-15 summit of Asia-Pacific powers in Singapore, including the United States, China and Russia, will call for a peak in global emissions that will need to peak "over the next few years," according to a draft statement seen by AFP on Friday.

They would be reduced to 50 percent below 1990 levels by 2050, "recognising that the time frame for peaking will be longer in developing countries," it said.