Countries looking to US leadership on climate

[December 05, 2008]  UNITED NATIONS (AP) -- Countries around the world are looking to Barack Obama for leadership in reaching a global climate treaty next year, but no nation will be able to singlehandedly deliver a final agreement, a senior U.N. official said Thursday.

Robert Orr, assistant secretary-general for policy coordination and strategic planning, said the president-elect's comments on the need to address climate change have raised "a lot of hope" -- particularly at a time when some governments are talking about delaying their efforts to curb emissions, partly because of the economic crisis.

"The fact that the United States seems to be visibly moving in the other direction is a very hopeful sign for the negotiation," Orr told a news conference.

Representatives from 190 countries are meeting in the Polish city of Poznan from Dec. 1-12 to work toward an ambitious new treaty that hopefully will be adopted at a meeting in Copenhagen, Denmark, in December 2009. It would replace the Kyoto Protocol, which expires in 2012.

The United States rejected the Kyoto protocol, which requires 37 countries to slash emissions of heat-trapping gases by an average 5 percent from 1990 levels. Washington argued that Kyoto would harm American business while failing to require similar cuts by China, India and other emerging economies.

Obama, however, has promised to establish annual targets to reduce U.S. emissions to their 1990 levels by 2020, cutting them by another 80 percent by 2050.

He also has promised to invest $15 billion each year to support private-sector efforts toward clean energy, arguing that tackling climate change can create millions of new jobs as the U.S. invests in technologies to promote solar and wind power, biofuels and cleaner coal-fired plants.

"It's safe to say that anyone involved in this negotiation looks to the U.S. for some real leadership on this," Orr said. "With that said, I don't think any single country, however important -- as everyone will recognize the United States is, is going to turn around or deliver a negotiation singlehandedly."

He stressed that especially with the major players -- including the United States which is one of the world's main polluters -- there must be "real action" both internationally and nationally.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon agrees that climate change should be at the top of the global agenda in 2009 and is encouraged by the signs from the incoming U.S. administration and Congress, he said.

"Climate change will be center stage throughout 2009," Orr said, because governments, individuals and corporations are beginning to understand "the direct linkage" between tackling the climate issue and the economic recovery.

Janos Pasztor, director of the secretary-general's climate change support team, said Ban will attend the Poznan talks next week and is also planning to hold a climate change summit in New York in September 2009.

He said Ban is concerned about reports that a number of European Union countries are "backsliding" on commitments to cut emissions because they don't want to hamstring industry during the current economic crisis.

"He has written to EU leaders and encouraged them to remain in the lead," Pasztor said.

The secretary-general wants to see ambitious emission reductions by developed countries, measurable actions by developing countries, and technological support to enable developing countries to reduce emissions, he said.

"We need nothing less than a revolution to pave the way for the low carbon emissions economy of the future -- including massive investments by the public as well as the private sectors in alternative energy systems, a global green new deal, (and) innovative financing from public and private sources," Pasztor said.

[Associated Press; By EDITH M. LEDERER]

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