11.27. 2018 - Political divisions cloud Poland climate talks
World News | Reuters.com
FILE PHOTO: A general view shows 100,000 postcards with messages against climate change, sent by young people from all over the world and stuck together to break the Guinness World Record of the biggest postcard on the Jungfraufirn, the upper part of Europe's longest glacier, the Aletschgletscher, near Jungfraujoch, Switzerland November 16, 2018. REUTERS/Arnd Wiegmann/File Photo
Divisions within Europe and tension between the United States and China pose major challenges to the next round of United Nations talks on climate change.
The most important U.N. climate conference since the Paris Agreement of 2015 opens on Sunday in Katowice, Poland, in one of the most polluted coal-mining regions in Europe. Success, according to the conference’s Polish host, will need a miracle.
Delegates from about 195 nations are on a deadline to produce a “rule book” to flesh out details of the pact, which the United States, at the behest of President Donald Trump, has announced it will quit.
The 2015 deal aims to shift the world economy away from fossil fuels and limit the rise in global temperatures to between 1.5 and 2 degrees Celsius to avert more extreme weather, rising sea levels and the loss of plant and animal species.
The pact was 20 years in the making and commits almost every country to fight global warming. But rules are needed to bring about real cuts in emissions and ensure they are closely monitored.
U.N. scientists in October added to pressure for a strong outcome from the talks, saying the world will hit the 1.5C threshold around 2040 and unprecedented changes are needed in the way people use energy.
Despite this call for unified action, there are divisions within the European Union and trade tensions between the United States and China, all of which have implications for climate policy.
The president of the talks, Poland’s former deputy energy minister Michał Kurtyka, has expressed hopes of a compromise while at same time acknowledging the scope of the task ahead.
“Only by a miracle can we realize success,” he said last month, although miracles were “a Polish speciality”.
Then earlier this month he added: “Undoubtedly, the geopolitical situation in 2015 was much easier for discussing global agreements than the one we have in 2018. However, my talks with representatives from the whole world show that there is a willingness to reach a compromise in Katowice.”
POLITICAL, ECONOMIC RIFTS
Developing nations and those vulnerable to climate change, such as islands and low-lying states, are looking to big industrialized countries to deepen cuts in emissions.
Senior Chinese climate change official Li Gao told reporters last month that some industrialized countries more responsible for climate change were backsliding on the “polluter pays” principle, which “will make it hard to reach a consensus”.
In the European Union, European Commission climate chief Miguel Arias Canete’s call for more ambitious goals was rebuffed by Chancellor Angela Merkel, who said it would be counter-productive because some European countries, including Germany, were struggling to meet their targets.
The United States has a seat at the negotiating table until it can formally quit in November 2020 at the earliest.
It may use its remaining time to try to develop ammunition for its trade dispute with China. Former climate and energy adviser to President Trump, George David Banks, told Reuters the administration wants to make sure it “corrects as many of the flaws of the agreement that it can”.
The United States has always been interested in getting a robust framework for reporting and measuring emissions cuts, particularly for developing countries such as China.
“It helps inform your trade policymaking and negotiations vis-a-vis the Chinese and others,” Banks said.
The United States also plans to promote fossil and nuclear fuels at the talks, repeating a strategy that infuriated global-warming activists last year.
* 11.27.2018 - Greenhouse gas emissions gap wider than ever: UN report
Greenhouse gas emissions gap wider than ever: U.N. report | Reuters
Emissions from a power plant chimney rise over Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia January 13, 2017. REUTERS/B. Rentsendorj
Global greenhouse gas emissions in 2030 could be between 13 billion and 15 billion tonnes more than the level needed to keep global warming within 2 degrees Celsius this century, a United Nations report estimated on Tuesday.
The ninth annual U.N. Environment Programme (UNEP) report analyzed the impact of countries’ emissions cut targets and policies, and whether they are enough to limit global average temperature rise to a safer threshold below 2C.
* November 27, 2018 - EU's Climate Chief calls for bloc to go for net-zero emissions by 2050
EU's climate chief calls for bloc to go for net-zero emissions by 2050 | Reuters
11.27.2018 - Poland would join any moves to step up Russian Sanctions over Ukraine: President
Poland would join any moves to step up Russian sanctions over Ukraine: president | Reuters
Poland’s president said on Tuesday Warsaw would join any international moves to step up sanctions on Russia, after Moscow opened fire on and seized three Ukrainian navy ships near Russian-annexed Crimea over the weekend.
The U.S. State Department, the European Union, Britain, France, Denmark, and Canada have all condemned what they called Russian aggression. Moscow accuses the Ukrainian vessels of intruding into its territorial waters on Sunday, which Kiev denies.
“If there are such international initiatives, like further sanctions (on Russia), Poland will take part in these initiatives, because we are ready for all actions that will lead to solving the conflict,” Polish President Andrzej Duda said during a visit to Bulgaria, speaking through a Bulgarian translator.
