Miliband laments climate result amid strains with China

Miliband laments climate result amid strains with China

* China accused of ‘hijacking’ Copenhagen climate talks

BEIJING: Visiting British Foreign Secretary David Miliband expressed his disappointment on Monday over the Copenhagen climate summit, a day after China’s premier hit back at charges Beijing sabotaged the meeting.

Miliband’s comments in Beijing underlined lingering strains between the two countries over the December summit since his brother, Climate Change Minister Ed Miliband, said Beijing had “hijacked” the talks. “We were very disappointed by the outcome of the Copenhagen conference and we all have to take responsibility to make sure that in the year ahead up to the Mexico meeting we regain lost ground,” the foreign secretary told reporters.

Mexico hosts the next UN summit on climate change beginning in November. Ed Miliband wrote in a newspaper article in December that China had vetoed attempts to give legal force to the accord reached at the UN-backed talks in the Danish capital. He also said Beijing had blocked an agreement on reductions in global emissions — charges that China has denied.

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao again dismissed the charges on Sunday, and denied he snubbed a meeting of state leaders including US President Barack Obama at the summit, saying China was not even invited. A controversy had erupted after reports emerged that Wen sent a low-ranking foreign ministry official to the meeting.

“Why was China not notified of the meeting? We have so far received no explanation for this and it remains a mystery to me,” he told reporters at an annual press conference to close parliament. He also said China - the world’s leading emitter of greenhouse gases - was unfairly perceived as a climate change spoiler. “It still baffles me why some people continue to make an issue about China,” he said, adding that his “conscience is clear” and the Copenhagen outcome was positive. The British foreign secretary’s visit comes with ties also strained by China’s execution of a Briton for drug smuggling. (AFP)

China alleges diplomatic snub at Copenhagen summit

China alleges diplomatic snub at Copenhagen summit

(AP) – March 14, 2010

BEIJING — Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao said he was snubbed at last year's Copenhagen climate change conference and fired back Sunday at critics who accuse China of arrogance.

China was blamed by some for undermining efforts to reach a binding agreement at the December conference and Wen was himself criticized for skipping a meeting of top leaders attended by President Barack Obama.

However, Wen says he was never formally notified of the late-night Dec. 17 event and sent Vice Foreign Minister He Yafei to register a protest. Wen said no explanation had been given about the lack of a formal invitation.

"Why was China not notified of this meeting? So far no one has given us any explanation about this and it still is a mystery," Wen said at an annual news conference on the final day of China's legislative session.

"It still baffles me why some people try to make an issue out of China," he said.

Wen said China remained fully committed to the nonbinding Copenhagen Accord that requires developing countries to propose voluntary actions to combat climate change.

"China worked with other countries attending the Copenhagen conference, and with joint efforts we have made the Copenhagen Accord possible," Wen said.

"This result has not come easily and it is also the best outcome that could have been achieved on an issue that concerns the major interests of all countries," he said.

As the world's largest emitter of heat-trapping greenhouse gases, China has come under increasing pressure to commit to reductions. Beijing said before Copenhagen it will cut its "carbon intensity" — a measure of carbon dioxide emissions per unit of production — by 40 to 45 percent by 2020, compared with 2005 levels.

The dustup over Wen's Copenhagen appearance was part of a series of controversies portraying China as more aggressive and intransigent in its relations with the outside world. Having weathered the economic downturn better than many nations, Beijing is increasingly regarded as seeking to assert its influence and resist demands for reform.

During his 60 hours at Copenhagen, Wen held numerous meetings and speeches but made no remarks to the media, as is standard with Chinese leaders.

(This version CORRECTS Corrects that official sent to meeting was Vice Foreign Minister He Yafei, sted Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi.)

At least they're on board ...

Here's how the NY Times puts it:

Climate Goal Is Supported by China and India [!!!]

By JOHN M. BRODER
The New York Times

WASHINGTON — China and India formally agreed Tuesday to join the international climate change agreement reached in December in Copenhagen, the last two major economies to sign up.

The two countries, among the largest and fastest-growing sources of greenhouse gas emissions in the world, submitted letters to the United Nations agreeing to be included on a list of countries covered by the Copenhagen Accord, a three-page nonbinding statement reached at the end of the contentious and chaotic 10-day conference.

China and India join more than 100 countries that have signed up under the accord, which calls for limiting the rise in global temperatures to no more than 2 degrees Celsius, or 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit, beyond pre-industrial levels...

The inclusion of China and India has only a minor practical effect but will provide a boost for the agreement’s credibility.
“After careful consideration, India has agreed to such a listing,” Reuters quoted India’s environment minister, Jairam Ramesh, as telling Parliament on Tuesday. “We believe that our decision to be listed reflects the role India played in giving shape to the Copenhagen Accord. This will strengthen our negotiating position on climate change.”

Mr. Ramesh confirmed India’s action in an e-mail message.

India sent a letter on Monday to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, the body responsible for international climate negotiations, stating its intent to join the Copenhagen Accord.

China’s chief climate change negotiator, Su Wei, submitted a single-sentence letter saying that the United Nations “can proceed to include China in the list of parties” signed up under the accord.

China has said it will try to voluntarily reduce its emissions of carbon dioxide per unit of economic growth — a measure known as “carbon intensity” — by 40 to 45 percent by 2020, compared with 2005 levels. India set a domestic emissions intensity reduction target of 20 to 25 percent by 2020, compared with 2005 levels, excluding its agricultural sector.

[Hey, this looks pretty in line with the class simulation. P.S. Need we remind the developed countries that these are voluntary targets? We don't have to do them -- we're not historically responsible for these emissions -- but we will take them on as national actions. And we'll be accountable to our own parliament, thank you very much. =P]

The United States pledged to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by about 17 percent by 2020 compared with 2005, contingent on Congress’s enacting climate change and energy legislation.

Negotiators are trying to write an enforceable global climate change treaty, but there is little expectation that such an agreement will be reached this year. The European Union’s climate commissioner, Connie Hedegaard of Denmark, said Tuesday that nations should now aim to reach an agreement in 2011 at a United Nations conference in South Africa, rather than this year in Mexico.

[Maybe South Africa rather than Mexico should be the next Stanford trip? We have a Stanford center in S. Africa ... ] 

Times of India, on the other hand, emphasizes in their reporting the "conditional association" with the accord.

India okays Copenhagen Accord, with riders

After three months of confabulation within the government, India on Tuesday allowed a conditional association of its name with the Copenhagen Accord. The accord, which had been negotiated by 29 countries including India at the Danish capital in December 2009, had become a bone of contention with some countries refusing to accept it while the BASIC countries distanced themselves from the contentious document.

While the US and other developed countries were keen that key countries, such as India and China, should back the accord to the hilt, the two along with South Africa and Brazil had instead indicated that the primacy of the formal UN negotiations should be maintained.

Union environment minister Jairam Ramesh told TOI, "We have made the conditional association and I have been informed by the Chinese government that it too will associate itself with the accord in a similar fashion as India."

The BASIC countries had stepped away after an assessment that the accord, if operationalised immediately, as recommended by the rich countries, would tilt the balance of international climate negotiations against them. They demanded that the accord, which only a select group of countries had been party to, should either be treated as a mere guidance note or be taken through the formal negotiations and be accepted by all the 180 plus countries in order to gain greater legal status -- something that failed to happen at the Copenhagen meet.

Now India has reiterated that "the accord is meant to facilitate the ongoing negotiations in the two tracks (of the formal UN negotiations)" and that it is not a legally binding document. India has also demanded that its name be used to back the accord only if all its conditions, including the fact that the pact will not become a new track of negotiations or a template for outcomes, is indicated in the Copenhagen Accord.

So it goes...
URL: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/10/science/earth/10climate.html
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/environment/global-warming/India-okays-Copenhagen-Accord-with-riders/articleshow/5665061.cms

MRV there yet? MRV there yet?

MRV is apparently still being made an issue. "Scrutiny" is out. "Consultation and analysis" were what were agreed to. "Verification that is non-intrusive" might be possible.

Emissions: China joins India on scrutiny
http://beta.thehindu.com/news/article228685.ece?homepage=true

"On Wednesday, Mr. Xie [Zhenhua, vice-chairman of NDRC and one of China's lead negotiators at COP15] also lent support to India's opposition to any international scrutiny of voluntary actions to reduce emissions, which the United States and some European countries are calling for. That, Mr. Xie said, was out of the question, being “an issue of sovereignty”.

“Autonomous efforts must not be subject to MRV [Measurement, Reporting and Verification],” he stressed. He, however, added that China had agreed to “verification that is non-intrusive” in the interest of advancing negotiations at Copenhagen, and to “reduce mistrust” with the West. While China and India had initially been opposed to any MRV of voluntary projects, they had agreed to “consultations and analysis” in the negotiations but not to “scrutiny”.

Developed countries [on the other hand] Mr. Xie said, “should be subject to MRV in emission reductions and also in providing technological, financial and capacity building support to developing countries”.

The question of international scrutiny of developing countries' mitigation actions remains a crucial sticking point in talks between the West and the developing world. In its submission to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) last month, the U.S. reiterated its call for “scrutiny” of voluntary actions, though it later changed its position following opposition from India, as The Hindu first reported on February 28."