Historic climate deal sealed in Bali after U-turn by the United States

 

Last updated at 09:25am on 15th December 2007 Comments (6)

Negotiators trying to agree a road map for a new international climate change deal finally managed to broker an historic compromise deal today after days of wrangling.

 

Ministers from around 180 countries meeting in Bali agreed the agenda for a global emissions cuts agreement to launch negotiations for a post-2012 agreement to tackle climate change.

 

While it will be two years before a final deal on post-2012 is likely to be struck, countries have been fighting for the kinds of things they want to see on the table for those talks.

 

Groups of ministers worked through the night to hammer out the details of an agenda for the agreement which will replace the current Kyoto Protocol.

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Executive Secretary of the United Nations Framework on Climate Change Conference (UNFCCC) Yvo de Boer (left) shakes hand with President of the 13th session of the Conference of the Parties, Rachmat Witoelar at the UN Climate Change Conference in Bali

 

The EU conceded on one of the main sticking points - the inclusion in the road map of a reference of 25% to 40% emissions cuts by developed countries by 2020, which scientists have said are necessary to avoid dangerous climate change.

The EU had insisted the figures were in the document because they are based on the science of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and an ambitious road map was needed.

But the US demanded - and won - their removal, claiming they could "prejudge" outcomes of negotiations over the past two years.

This morning the Europeans accepted a road map in which the targets were missing, as were references to the need for emissions to peak within 10 to 15 years and for global greenhouse gas output to halve by 2050.

Instead the document said countries recognise that "deep cuts in global emissions" will be required, and calls for a "long-term global goal for emissions reductions".

In turn the US conceded over the issue in the road map of how much developing countries need to do to curb their emissions.

The US delegation had been pushing for stronger action from poorer nations - a demand which saw them booed in the hall where ministers and officials were meeting - but dropped the request this morning.

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Moral challenge: Ban Ki-moon pleads of a deal during the conference

 

The delegates came to agreement after they were addressed by UN secretary general Ban Ki-Moon, who flew back to the talks this morning, during a tense session in which emotions were running high.

Before they managed to reach an agreement, he told them he was "disappointed" at the slow rate of progress on a deal.

I heard on the news that the deal didn't actually state what the targets are.

 

Fast-forward to a time in the future, the American president says "we have reduced our co2 output in accordance with the Bali Protocol, so what if it's only 0.1%"