Wednesday October 21, 2009

EU seeks curb greenhouse gases from planes, ships

By Pete Harrison and Ilona Wissenbach

LUXEMBOURG (Reuters) - The European Union took a step on Wednesday to curb greenhouse gases from planes and ships as part of a global climate pact that the United Nations said is needed to halt a "worrying" rise in emissions this decade.

Steam and other emissions are seen coming from funnels at a chemical manufacturing facility in Melbourne in this June 2009 file photo. (REUTERS/Mick Tsikas/Files)

European environment ministers meeting in Luxembourg agreed a proposal to curb global emissions from planes and ships by 10 percent and 20 percent respectively over the next decade.

They will present the idea to other countries at U.N. talks in Copenhagen from Dec. 7-18 meant to agree a successor pact for the U.N.'s existing Kyoto Protocol, which does not cover emissions from international shipping and aviation.

"We have from the environment council a complete negotiating mandate for Copenhagen, except for the finance," German Environment Minister Sigmar Gabriel said.

The ministers also agreed a long-term goal of cutting EU emissions by 80-95 percent. Aviation and shipping make up about 5 percent of global emissions.

Wednesday's deal marked progress after EU finance ministers failed a day earlier to agree on billions of euros in financial aid for developing nations that could persuade them to sign up for a deal in the Danish capital.

Developing countries led by China and India say the rich must cut their greenhouse gas emissions by at least 40 percent by 2020 from 1990 levels -- far deeper than offered -- as the price of getting the poor to rein in their own rising emissions.

U.N.-compiled data confirmed, however, that rich nations' emissions kept rising in 2007, up by 1 percent from 2006 and 3 percent above 2000 levels despite promises to cut back.

"The continuing growth of emissions from industrialised countries remains worrying, despite the expectation of a momentary dip brought about by the global recession," said Yvo de Boer, head of the Secretariat.

SEAL DEAL

"The numbers for 2007 underscore, once again, the urgent need to seal a comprehensive, fair and effective climate change deal in Copenhagen in December," he said. The data confirmed numbers compiled by Reuters.

In London, British finance minister Alistair Darling said that climate change talks risk dragging on in the same way as world trade negotiations and urged the G20 to agree on funds to help tackle global warming at talks in Scotland next month.

"The thing I'm really worried about is that we must avoid getting into a situation like we did with the Doha trade round. We can't get into that situation with climate change," he told Reuters.

In China, President Hu Jintao told U.S. President Barack Obama in a telephone call that closer cooperation on climate change could help improve overall ties between the world's top two greenhouse gas polluters.

Hu also said he was optimistic about Copenhagen despite deadlock on major issues of curbs and funds.

"Developing cooperation between the two sides on climate change issues would not only benefit the international community in its efforts to tackle climate change, but also have great significance for promoting the development of China-U.S. ties," the official Xinhua news agency quoted Hu as saying.

In New Delhi, India and China signed a deal to cooperate in fighting global warming and also underlined a common position for Copenhagen. The sweeping agreement covers cooperation for action to reduce greenhouse gases, transfer of technology and in areas of energy efficiency and renewables, among others.

In London, leaders of the oil industry said the world should invest heavily in fossil fuels and voiced scepticism about prospects for a deal in Copenhagen. "There is no getting away from fossil fuels," said Nigerian Oil Minister Rilwanu Lukman.

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