U.S. chief climate negotiator Harlan Watson said on Monday that
his government rejected a greenhouse gas emission cut target set by
rich nations as part of a "roadmap" for negotiations on a new
climate deal for the next two years.
The U.S. wanted the U.N. climate change conference to end on
Friday with an accord to start two years of negotiations on a new
global climate treaty, he told a press conference here.
"It's prejudging what the outcome should be," he said,
commenting on a draft which reportedly suggests that rich nations
should cut emissions of greenhouse gases by between 25 and 40
percent below 1990 levels by 2020.
A draft final text by Indonesia, South Africa and Australia says
evidence by the U.N. climate panel demands cuts of 25-40 percent by
rich nations to avoid the worst impacts of climate change.
"Our opinion about Kyoto has not changed," Watson said.
President George W. Bush opposes Kyoto Protocol, which binds 36
industrial nations to cut emissions by five percent below 1990 by
2012.
"We don't want to start out with numbers," Watson said, adding
that the 25-40 percent range was based on "many uncertainties" and
a small number of scientific studies by the U.N. Intergovernmental
Panel on Climate Change, a Nobel Peace Prize winner.
As the world's largest emitter of greenhouse gases, the United
States is the only industrialized country that does not ratify the
Protocol.
However, a statement of U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer, which was
distributed on Monday in Bali, said, "I urge the delegates in Bali
to be bold and strong. Nothing less will save our planet for our
grandchildren."
Boxer, who is also Chairman of the Senate Committee on
Environment and Public Works, said in the statement on the U.N.
climate change conference in Bali, "As Chairman of the Senate
Environment and Public Works Committee, I want the delegates in
Bali to know that change is already happening in Washington."
The ongoing U.N climate change conference hosted by Indonesia in
Bali is tasked with drawing up a "roadmap" for negotiations on a
new climate deal in the next two years before the current phase of
the 1997 Kyoto Protocol expires in 2012.
(Xinhua News Agency December 11, 2007)
