Rich countries risk wrecking climate deal, warns Christian Aid

Rich countries risk wrecking vitally important international talks on a climate agreement, Christian Aid warned at the close of the latest UN negotiations in Bonn on Friday.

The aid agency said rich countries had failed to commit to dramatic curbs in their greenhouse emissions and to recognise the scale of funding it said was necessary for poor countries "urgently" needing to cope with the impacts of global warming.

The negotiations come just six months before a major UN summit in Copenhagen, where environmental campaigners say a new climate deal must be agreed to come into force when the first phase of the Kyoto Protocol ends.

Christian Aid said that during the Bonn talks, it was "clear that rich countries plan to continue polluting at levels that will make dangerous climate change inevitable".

This was highlighted by Japan’s announcement of a target to cut its emissions from 1990 levels by only eight per cent by 2020, two per cent more than Japan’s existing target under the Kyoto protocol. Christian Aid said the target was "entirely inadequate".

"Developed countries have been unable to agree on any overall target for their cuts, let alone one which will hold the global temperature rise below 2oC – the point at which scientists predict climate catastrophe," says Nelson Muffuh, Christian Aid’s senior climate advocate. "They are wrecking the negotiations that are supposed to secure a deal by December."

Mithika Mwenda from Kenya, Coordinator of the Pan African Climate Justice Alliance, said rich countries’ proposed emissions cuts are even weaker than those required by the existing Kyoto Protocol.

"I’d rather see my country refuse an agreement with such low ambition," said Mr Mwenda, "Rich countries’ political will to make up for their historic responsibility and to safeguard poor people’s lives, dignity and development is just not there. Things have to change dramatically."

Christian Aid said the lack of trust had worsened "as rich countries drag their feet and demand more action from the developing world".

Developing countries have expressed concern about efforts to change the terms of the negotiations and what they regard as an attempt to shift the burden of dealing with climate change onto them.

Christian Aid said developing countries were demanding that rich nations admit their responsibility "for causing climate change through a century and a half of industrialisation".

It warned that pollution from rich countries was already having devastating effects in developing countries through droughts, floods and tropical storms. During the negotiations, rich countries and the European Union denied such responsibility for such damage.

Mr Muffuh adds: "Without real progress on commitments by the rich world, the negotiations will collapse. Developed countries should prevent further delays by immediately committing to urgent, deep emissions cuts.

"They must come back to the next round of talks willing to act and to agree to ambitious, quantified financial support for adaptation and mitigation in developing countries, as well as technology transfer.

"Such action is neither an act of charity nor a punishment against rich countries. Rather, it is compensation for the damage they have done."