Australia Electrifies Bali Climate Conference

Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd (Photo courtesy Australian Parliament)

Sworn in this morning, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd of the Australian Labor Party ratified the treaty as the first formal act of his government, after he overthrew the Kyoto-resistant former leader John Howard late last month. Rudd said he will attend the high-level meeting of the Bali conference next week on his first overseas trip as prime minister.

The two week conference is expected to result in negotiations on a climate agreement to begin after 2012 when the first commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol expires.

"My government will do everything in its power to help Australia meet its Kyoto Protocol obligations," Rudd said today. This will include setting a target to reduce emissions by 60 percent on 2000 levels by 2050 and establishing a national emissions trading scheme by 2010," Rudd said.

He also pledged to set a 20 percent target for renewable energy by 2020 to expand the use of renewable energy sources such as solar and wind.

U.S. senior climate negotiator Harlan Watson told conference delegates that the United States is committed to "advancing negotiations on a Bali roadmap," and supported formation of a working group, and a two-track approach.

Watson's statement echoes what U.S. Under Secretary of State Paula Dobriansky told Congress last month. "We seek a Bali Road Map that will advance negotiations under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, UNFCCC, to be in place by 2009, said Dobriansky, who leads the U.S. delegation to Bali.

With 192 Parties, the UNFCCC has near universal membership and is the parent treaty of the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, which has to date 176 member Parties.

At the UN climate conference in Bali, delegates applaud Australia's ratification of the Kyoto Protocol. (Photo courtesy Earth Negotiations Bulletin, ENB)

Under the Protocol, 36 states, consisting of highly industrialized countries and countries undergoing the process of transition to a market economy, have legally binding greenhouse gas emission limitation and reduction commitments.

The ultimate objective of both treaties is to stabilize concentrations of six greenhouse gases in the atmosphere at levels that will prevent dangerous human interference with the climate system.

"The scientific debate has been conclusively laid to rest by the latest scientific findings from the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change - climate change is unequivocal and accelerating," said Indonesian Environment Minister and President of the conference Rachmat Witoelar.

A 1.4 meter sea level rise by 2100, habitat degradation and losses of up to 30 percent of plant and animal species are among the potential impacts of climate change, the IPCC report says. Crop production will be affected and millions of people will be displaced by climate events.

The IPCC report projects shrinking snow cover and decreasing sea ice extent. There is a "very likely" increase in frequency of hot extremes, heat waves, and heavy precipitation and a likely increase in tropical cyclone intensity.

On an optimistic note, the IPCC reports that there is "high agreement and much evidence" that atmospheric greenhouse gases can be stabilized with "a portfolio of technologies that are either currently available or expected to be commercialized in coming decades, assuming appropriate and effective incentives are in place for their development, acquisition, deployment and diffusion and addressing related barriers."

"All assessed stabilization scenarios indicate that 60-80 percent of the reductions would come from energy supply and use, and industrial processes, with energy efficiency playing a key role in many scenarios," the IPCC states.

"Including non-CO2 and CO2 land-use and forestry mitigation options provides greater flexibility and cost-effectiveness," according to the IPCC. "Low stabilisation levels require early investments and substantially more rapid diffusion and commercialization of advanced low emissions technologies."

Indonesian Environment Minister Rachmat Witoelar (Photo courtesy ENB)

Addressing the delegates at Bali, Witoelar said, "Countries now have to agree on the agenda for the negotiations. This will cover the key areas for the new climate change deal and what the organizational and procedural arrangements are to get to this result."

"The launch of negotiations and a clear deadline of 2009 to end the negotiations would constitute a breakthrough," said Witoelar. "Anything short of that would constitute a failure."

The Bali conference is not expected to deliver a fully negotiated climate change agreement but the outlines of a new deal are beginning to take shape.

Countries have indicated a new deal is likely to include mitgation - taking actions to reduce the extent of global warming. This is distinct from adaptation to global warming, which involves taking action to minimize the effects of global warming.

Mitigation efforts are likely to include reducing emissions from deforestation, UN officials say.

In developing countries, a decision to reduce emissions from deforestation is expected to include an agreement on measuring avoided emissions, pilot projects in developing countries and resources to help developing countries make these measurements.

Other important issues under negotiation at Bali include adaptation to climate change, the management and operation of a fund for adaptation, and technology transfer from developed to developing countries.

"It is essential that vulnerable developing countries are in a position to draw up plans to prepare for climate change impacts," said Yvo de Boer, executive secretary of the UNFCCC.

"It is also essential that agreement is reached on how the Kyoto Protocol's Adaptation Fund is managed so that the fund can begin financing real adaptation projects," he said.

UNFCCC Executive Secretary Yvo de Boer (orange shirt) with conference President Rachmat Witoelar, COP Secretary Richard Kinley (far right) and Halldor Thorgeirsson, UNFCCC Secretariat (far left) (Photo courtesy ENB)

De Boer says ongoing work to strengthen the Kyoto Protocol's clean development mechanism demonstrates how industrialized countries can continue to take the lead in reducing global emissions.

"Whilst it is clear that we will need to continue using fossil fuels for some time to come, we can't afford conventional technologies to continue to keep a grip on the world," said de Boer.

"Action in the North is needed to fuel clean growth in the South," he said.

Under the clean development mechanism, CDM, projects that reduce greenhouse gas emissions in developing countries and contribute to sustainable development can earn certified emission reduction, or CER, credits.

The 36 countries with emission reduction commitments under the Kyoto Protocol buy CERs to cover a portion of their commitments.

There are currently more than 840 registered CDM projects in 49 countries, and about another 1,800 projects in the project registration pipeline.

The CDM is expected to generate more than 2.5 billion emissions credits by the time the first commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol ends in 2012, each equivalent to one metric ton of the main greenhouse gas carbon dioxide.

"Parties need to create the tool box that can reduce emissions cost-effectively and enable economic growth, de Boer said. "The final step of the two-year negotiating process will be to define targets and the type of legal instrument that is needed to make the new international deal work," he added.

Environmental groups are keeping a wary eye on the U.S. and Canadian delegations, urging them not to block progress at the conference.

"Ultimately, the United States will not be judged by the rhetoric of its diplomats in Bali, but by our concrete actions to reduce our global warming emissions at home," said Stephen Mills, Director of the Sierra Club's International Programs.

"Bush administration officials are very good at using green-sounding language to describe their domestic initiatives that in fact undermine environmental protections and conservation," he said. "At this meeting the whole world will be holding President Bush and our Congress accountable."

"The Bali negotiations are an opportunity for Canada to move from laggard to leader in the fight against global warming," said Jean Langlois, national campaigns director for the Sierra Club of Canada.

Canada has ratified the Kyoto Protocol, but last year, under the newly elected Conservative government led by Prime Minister Stephen Harper, Canada backed away from its legally binding commitment, saying it was impossible to achieve.

"Canada and the U.S. in are isolated from the rest of the world in trying to block binding targets that would hold developed countries accountable for reducing greenhouse gas emissions," said Langlois. "This position is fundamentally at odds with Canadian public opinion. Bali is an opportunity for our delegation to represent the will of Canadians."

Copyright Environment News Service (ENS) 2007. All rights reserved.