PRESS CONFERENCE BY ACTING HEAD OF UNITED NATIONS CLIMATE CHANGE SECRETARIAT

As the world wrestled with one of its greatest challenges, the United Nations hoped that the launching next week in Bonn of two important processes on the future of international climate change would help to build consensus on the way forward, Richard Kinley, the Acting Head of the secretariat of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, told correspondents at a Headquarters press conference today.

Describing the background and agenda of meetings being held under United Nations auspices next week in Bonn, Germany, he said world leaders had agreed to the talks when they had met in December, in Montreal, to discuss climate change.  The talks, which would take place from 18-26 May, would launch two processes -- one under the 1992 United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the other under the 1997 Kyoto Protocol.

The first process was called the Dialogue on Long-term Cooperation, which was taking place under the Climate Change Convention, he said.  Almost all countries would be participating in the process, including those who were not party to the Kyoto Protocol.  The idea of the process was to exchange views and build consensus on the way to address the major problem of climate change in the longer term.  The second round of talks fell under the Kyoto Protocol and its formal negotiations on what to do after the first commitment period under the Protocol, namely 2008-2012.  There had been much discussion about what would happen after 2012, and those negotiations were beginning next week in Bonn.

The two rounds of negotiations represented the most significant development in the climate change regime in some time, he said.  Discussions about the future, which up to now had been taking place mostly in academia and think tanks, were now moving out of academic halls into the halls of the United Nations.  That had been the major breakthrough agreed to in Montreal.

Turning to the agenda for the meetings, he said there was a strong consensus on the urgency of the problem, and the need for international action to address it.  Within the dialogue process, there would be much talk about the role of technology and markets, and how to promote sustainable development.  It was a two-year process, designed to conclude at the end of next year.

In the negotiating process under the Kyoto Protocol, proposals had come in from Governments for a new commitment period, perhaps one extending as long as till the year 2025 or 2030, he said.  There had also been calls for more significant reductions in emissions by industrialized countries than provided for in the Kyoto Protocol, meaning a quantum leap forward.  The European Union, for example, had suggested a reduction in the range of 15 to 30 per cent, compared to the Kyoto average of about 5 per cent.  That would be a significant advance.

He added that one of the most challenging questions in the discussion would be on the role of developing countries, which was an area lacking international consensus.  Developing countries were waiting for industrialized countries to demonstrate real leadership on limiting their emissions, before agreeing to accept binding commitments.  In the industrialized world, there was a feeling that more action by developing countries was required.  That would be one of the main points of discussion in the Dialogue, and would be touched on in the negotiations under the Kyoto Protocol.

There was increasing interest in action -– but, without commitment -- by developing countries, he said.  Another area of interest was the concept of incentives for action by developing countries, including increases in financial resources, ways to enhance technology transfer and building capacities.

He highlighted the role played by the clean development mechanism under the Kyoto Protocol, in generating action in developing countries to limit greenhouse gas emissions.  There had been phenomenal growth in the interest and actual delivery under the clean development mechanism in the last year, since the Kyoto Protocol entered into force.  Some 175 projects were registered under the clean development mechanism, and about 600 were in preparation.  The idea behind the mechanism was that industrialized countries with commitments under the Kyoto Protocol could invest in developing countries and get credit for emissions avoided by their new investments.  It was part of the international carbon market, which was one of the mechanisms in the Kyoto Protocol to reduce the costs of implementing commitments.

In terms of magnitude, the kinds of emission reductions currently being looked at were approaching 900 million tons of CO₂, which was equivalent to the emissions of Canada and Belgium in 2003.

The Bonn meeting would not only be about new processes, he added.  The Convention’s standing subsidiary bodies would also be meeting.  In addition to their regular agenda items, they had a number of new topics on the agenda, including a new initiative from tropical forest developing countries to reach agreement on action to prevent deforestation.  A second topic was an emerging new technology on carbon capture and storage, in which carbon dioxide would be captured and stored long term under ground.

The third item related to adaptation to climate change, he said.  The world was already committed to a certain amount of climate change.  Adaptation had been getting increasing attention in the climate change process.  Leaders in Montreal had agreed on a five-year work programme.  In Bonn, there would be an effort to wrap up the discussion, by agreeing on concrete activities to help countries look at the impacts that they faced, their vulnerability to climate change and what they could do about it.

There was increasing scientific certainty that there was a real serious problem resulting from two centuries of industrial development, he said.  It would take some time to address the problem of climate change, which was why the time frame being talked about was long term.  Industry was increasingly worried about the problem and asking Governments to give them long-term signals, which they could then use as the basis for their investment decisions.

With the concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere some 33 per cent higher than in industrial times, the data collected by the United Nations Climate Change secretariat showed that the long term trend was still towards increasing emissions at the global level, he said.  The impacts were being

increasingly felt, as could be seen in sea-level rise, extreme weather events, and the melting of glaciers, all of which translated into increased public awareness and public concern.

Where had the rise in emissions come from, and did it include China and India? a correspondent asked.

Responding, he said the source of the increase was widespread.  While emissions from Eastern European countries had declined in the 1990s, due to economic changes in that region, the emissions from that area were rising again.  There was a trend towards increasing emissions in a number of European countries, particularly the younger ones.  The link between economic growth and emissions was still strong.   A number of countries had, by investing in policy measures, reduced emissions or brought the trend line down.

Emissions in developing countries were going up, he said.  The reason for that was that they were starting at a much lower level.  The fact that there had not been commitments in the initial rounds was not an accident, but a bargain, that the industrialized countries would make the first steps and developing countries would join in the struggle in a new way.  That issue was currently at the centre of discussions.  There was widespread agreement that it was not time for firm emission limits.  There was, however, growing concern in developing countries about climate change and related problems, including air pollution and environmental degradation.  Automobile efficiency standards were more stringent in China than in other industrialized countries, he added.

Asked to comment on the new Asia-Pacific partnership, he said it was necessary to wait and see what that group would bring to the discussion.  The partnership had not signalled that it would be making a major announcement.  He saw the Asia-Pacific partnership as extremely important.  While the international agreements in place to bring down emission, namely the Convention and the Kyoto Protocol, were significant, it was clear that more needed to be done, especially when some countries had not entered into the Protocol.  The contribution of the Asia-Pacific partnership as a supplement to the Kyoto Protocol was positive and should be encouraged.

Asked where the United States fit into the discussion, he said that country was an active participant in the discussion under the Climate Change Convention.  The United States did not participate under the Kyoto Protocol, because of the policy decisions it had made.  It would, however, be participating in the Dialogue and had made a submission, which focused on technology development and research.  The international community owed the United States a great deal of credit, because of their research on climate change and technological solutions.

The Commission on Sustainable Development, which was set to conclude its session today, had addressed the importance of the linkages between the energy sector and climate change, he said in response to another question.  He had been struck by the amount of things being done and the general consensus on the need for action on renewable energy and clean technology.  He hoped those discussions would help to build consensus on the issue of climate change.

Asked whether climate change was a part of sustainable development, he said he had a strong personal opinion on the subject.  He had always been uneasy of the characterization of climate change as an environmental issue.  For him it was the fundamental sustainable development issue.

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