WITH only three days left before delegates come up with a strategy against global warming for the coming years, negotiators at Durban's COP17 conference yesterday proposed an even lower temperature rise and gave the nod to a bunker tax on shipping.
"Significant progress has been made," the ad-hoc working group on long-term cooperative action said.
The text stipulating the proposals emerged a day after high-level talks involving heads of state and governments and ministers.
Negotiators have been meeting since November 28 in Durban to find a way forward.
More than 190 countries and 15000 official delegates and observers are meeting under the looming cloud of the expiry date of the world's only infrastructure to combat climate change.
The Kyoto Protocol expires in December 2012.
The proposed text calls for the world's average temperature increase over pre-industrial times to be limited "to well below 1.5 degrees Centigrade" - a drastic decrease over the two degrees agreed upon in the past two climate summits.
That would mean even greater reductions in carbon emissions.
But even the current legally-binding and voluntary reduction pledges won't hit the two-degree-mark.
The UN Environmental Programme said on Tuesday the world is on course for a 4-degree rise in temperature over the coming century.
Another key part of the document is how to fund the ambitious $100-billion Green Climate Fund that was charted in Cancun in 2010.
Negotiators adopted a proposal from Oxfam and other environmental groups to pursue a bunker tax on international shipping that would produce about $10-billion a year for the fund.
But environmental groups are worried that the United States has refused to even commit to backing the bunker tax, let alone discuss any other specifics about where the money will come from for the fund.
United States climate envoy Todd Stern insists that finalisation of details about governance and operation of the fund must come first.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Tuesday lowered expectations for the outcome of Durban talks, saying the world's financial crisis is a large hurdle for climate change efforts.
Talks take a new turn at COP17 meeting
WITH only three days left before delegates come up with a strategy against global warming for the coming years, negotiators at Durban's COP17 conference yesterday proposed an even lower temperature rise and gave the nod to a bunker tax on shipping.
"Significant progress has been made," the ad-hoc working group on long-term cooperative action said.
The text stipulating the proposals emerged a day after high-level talks involving heads of state and governments and ministers.
Negotiators have been meeting since November 28 in Durban to find a way forward.
More than 190 countries and 15000 official delegates and observers are meeting under the looming cloud of the expiry date of the world's only infrastructure to combat climate change.
The Kyoto Protocol expires in December 2012.
The proposed text calls for the world's average temperature increase over pre-industrial times to be limited "to well below 1.5 degrees Centigrade" - a drastic decrease over the two degrees agreed upon in the past two climate summits.
That would mean even greater reductions in carbon emissions.
But even the current legally-binding and voluntary reduction pledges won't hit the two-degree-mark.
The UN Environmental Programme said on Tuesday the world is on course for a 4-degree rise in temperature over the coming century.
Another key part of the document is how to fund the ambitious $100-billion Green Climate Fund that was charted in Cancun in 2010.
Negotiators adopted a proposal from Oxfam and other environmental groups to pursue a bunker tax on international shipping that would produce about $10-billion a year for the fund.
But environmental groups are worried that the United States has refused to even commit to backing the bunker tax, let alone discuss any other specifics about where the money will come from for the fund.
United States climate envoy Todd Stern insists that finalisation of details about governance and operation of the fund must come first.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Tuesday lowered expectations for the outcome of Durban talks, saying the world's financial crisis is a large hurdle for climate change efforts.
Would you like to comment on this article?
Register (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.
Trending
Latest Videos