UN deal sets pace for emissions

A LAST-MINUTE agreement at United Nations talks has increased pressure on the Gillard government to lift its ambition in tackling climate change, with the Greens saying Labor has ''no choice'' not to set a more ambitious target than a 5 per cent cut in greenhouse gas emissions.
A final overnight session ended with UN negotiators for the first time backing an agreement that formally included targets from the US, China and India.

The deal included arrangements for protecting rainforests and a planned $US100 billion ($101 billion) green climate fund to help the most vulnerable nations cope with the effects of climate change.
The Cancun agreement included steps to ensure transparency in emissions measurement and reporting - a key sticking point for China and the US at last year's disastrous conference in Copenhagen.
But while representatives from more than 190 countries agreed to seek ''deep cuts'' in emissions, the deal does not include targets big enough to meet the goal of limiting the global temperature rise since industrialisation to 2 degrees.
Researchers for the Climate Action Tracker estimated the emissions pledges would set the world on course for 3.2 degrees warming - enough, scientists say, to cause droughts, crop failure, species extinction and increased damage from floods and storms.
Despite this, climate activists welcomed the deal as a step forward that could lay the groundwork for a binding treaty in South Africa next year, or Rio de Janeiro in 2012.
The Climate Institute deputy chief executive, Erwin Jackson, said it was a more significant result than the 2007 Bali climate conference, when wealthy nations recognised they should cut emissions by 25-40 per cent by 2020.
''It has broken the back of starting to capture all the major emitters in a legally binding framework,'' he said.
The Climate Change Minister, Greg Combet, said the conference was a ''historic step forward'' but that a lot of work remained if there was to be a single treaty covering all big emitters.
The Greens deputy leader, Christine Milne, said the agreement would raise the stakes in the Australia climate debate as the multi-party climate committee sought a deal to introduce carbon price legislation next year.
She said Labor had no choice but to increase its ''inexcusably weak'' pledge to cut emissions by between 5 and 25 per cent below 2000 levels by 2020.
''The world's poorest countries made very significant concessions in these negotiations in order to keep the UN process alive,'' Senator Milne said. ''Next time around rich countries like Australia will be expected to make similarly substantial contributions.''
The Coalition climate action spokesman, Greg Hunt, said the results at Cancun were modest, and would not sway it from opposing a carbon price.
The agreement bought more time for nations to negotiate a second commitment period under the Kyoto Protocol beyond 2012, although that process remains fraught.


Thank You for being our dear reader always despite many choices out there. Many thanks from Darey P.N.G (Chief Editor)eNews Nigeria.