US aid offer boosts deal at climate talks
COPENHAGEN (AP) — Large pieces of a climate deal fell into place Thursday with new offers from the U.S. and China, but other tough issues remained before President Barack Obama and other leaders can sign off on a political accord to contain the threat of an overheated world.
An announcement by Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton that the United States would contribute to a climate-change fund amounting to $100 billion a year by 2020 was quickly followed by an offer from China to open its books on carbon emissions to international review.
The U.S. delegation did not immediately react to the offer by Vice Foreign Minister He Yafei. But it went a long way toward the U.S. demand that China report on its actions to limit the growth of Beijing’s carbon emissions and allow experts to go over its data.
The sudden concessions on the eve of today’s final session lifted hopes that the 193-nation conference could reach a framework agreement that could be refined into a legal accord next year on limiting greenhouse-gas emissions and fighting climate change.
Obama and Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao were to join more than 110 world leaders for the last scheduled day of the conference, which for most of its two weeks was embroiled in angry exchanges, a partial boycott by African countries and another entire day wasted in procedural wrangling. It’s also possible that once the world leaders depart, the talks could continue at the ministerial level and stretch late into the night and early Saturday.
A pair of Greenpeace activists crashed a Thursday night banquet hosted by Denmark’s Queen Margrethe for the world leaders already in town. The couple, dressed in formal wear, unfurled two banners reading “Politicians Talk, Leaders Act” as they walked on the red carpet reception line, and were dragged from the hall by security guards.
The conference seems likely to fall short of the goal set by many developing countries for a deal that would be legally binding on all parties and guarantee the kind of dramatic emissions reductions by the industrial world that threatened nations feel are necessary.
Clinton’s announcement on funding was widely welcomed. Yoshiko Kijima, a senior Japanese negotiator, said it sent a strong signal by Obama “that he will persuade his own people that we need to show something to developing countries. ... I really respect that.”
Swedish Environment Minister Andreas Carlgren said Clinton added “political momentum,” and India’s Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh called it “a good step forward.”
Independent agencies also praised the move. “I think we’re closer now than we have been in two years,” said Tom Brookes, an analyst for the European Climate Foundation.
“It shows that when the U.S. moves, China moves,” said Kim Carstensen, the climate director for the World Wildlife Fund.
The White House was lowering expectations ahead of Obama’s trip.