The European Union now says it'll boycott climate talks being planned by Washington if the US doesn't compromise in Bali.
With time running out at the United Nations climate change conference in Bali, there's no sign of a deadlock being broken in negotiations over how the world should fight global warming.
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| Protesters against climate change at the Bali conference. Click here to watch the slideshow. |
The warning coming from the UN is that without a kind of resolution, the talks could collapse "like a house of cards". Non-governmental observers at the conference are offering the direst predictions of disaster.
Bianca Jagger speaks for the World Future Council, and has long been known as an advocate of human rights. She gave a blunt assessment of the progress that has been made so far.
"They are playing the dangerous Russian roulette with our future. And we hear all kinds of propositions until today. Whether it is from the European Union who has said a carbon reduction of 50 percent by 2050 or even of 80 percent by 2050. It is absurd and it is irresponsible and of course it is not what we need. What I'm saying is that we need a zero-emission by 2020."
CO2 emissions
Zero emissions by 2020 - certainly more ambitious than what the European Union is arguing for, but even the EU's proposals are considered too far-reaching for the United States. The US remains adamant that anything that comes out of the Bali conference should not suggest any kind of commitment to actual, stated reductions in emissions.
Nor does it want to see a commitment to preventing a global temperature rise beyond a stated limit, for instance two degrees. For small island nations like Tonga, even a rise of two degrees would be too much, as was explained by Tonga's representative in Bali, Lord Tuita.
"By current estimates, the 2 degree Celsius target would still have the effect of inundating many of our low-lying areas. The ability to adapt to climate change is now an absolute requirement that will require further commitments of financial and technical expertise. It would be a great tragedy of the modern era to lose a member state of the United Nations because of our inability to craft policy with real results."Developing nations like Tonga feel understandably aggrieved by the way things are going. They stand to lose the most from global warming, but they have contributed the least to the problem.
Developed countries
The Netherlands' Minister for the Environment, Jacqueline Cramer, made the same point in her presentation.
"I want to be clear about it. The developed countries like the EU, the United States, Canada, Australia, Japan and others have been the main cause for the global warming we face today. Therefore, it is those countries that should provide the main part of the solutions."
Fair share
Saudi Arabia's representative in Bali voiced a similar message, but with a rather different emphasis. Mr. Ali Bin Ibrahim Al-Naimi is the oil rich nation's Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources.
"The responsibility for climate change should be shared fairly between industrialised and developing countries. And it's a principle that no country should bear more responsibilities than its fair share. Besides this, another principle is that no particular community should be discriminated against when adopting new policies to fight climate change."The delegates listening to Mr Al-Naimi were left in no doubt that his warning against discrimination referred to oil-producing nations like his own. They stand to lose a great deal from any agreement to drastically reduce the world's dependence on oil.
It's understandable that with so many competing voices and concerns, negotiators are finding it hard to reach a consensus. Indonesia, which is hosting the talks, has suggested that discussions could run on into Saturday morning.
And the possibility of failure is also being considered, with delegates already suggesting that what cannot be agreed on in Bali will have to be pushed forward to the next big climate conference in Poland, late next year.
Tags:
Ali Bin Ibrahim Al-Naimi,
Bali,
Bianca Jagger,
climate change,
CO2,
emissions,
European Union,
Jacqueline Cramer,
Lord Tuita,
Saudi Arabia,
Tonga,
UN
david hill,
14-12-2007
- switzerland
Other than the fact that the Bali Summit will provide absolutely no change in stopping the constantly increasing global pollution and the life-threatening build up of carbon dioxide, the world’s emerging problems put together are immense. Indeed together, they are a recipe of nightmarish proportions that has never been seen before by humankind. But the greatest threat to human stability is the fact that people do not realize that the time-span for solving these huge global problems has a finite period of time also. The writing is now on the wall I would say for all to see if they will only look and where humanity has to react, but where, reaction to global problems takes decades to solve. Therefore the lead-time that we have now is the only thing that we have in our favour. Leave it for another 20-years and we shall not have the necessary lead time to do anything about the really 'big' problems. This is what we really have to get over to our politicians and multinationals, for it will affect them as much as it will affect you and me. If they do not change quickly therefore, we shall all end up with problems that are just unsolvable due to the time-served requirement to solve them and where time will literally run out.
For only by people realizing our dilemmas quickly now will be able to confront them and have enough time to solve them. It is no use therefore in pussy footing around until it is too late. This is the greatest threat to the survival of humankind and where if we do not come to our senses quickly, in fifty-years time, the world will have become very similar to most probably how we depict hell itself.
Dr David Hill
World Innovation Foundation
Bern. Switzerland
Joel Goodman,
14-12-2007
- USA
The cost of carbon capture to existing or new coal-fired plants “could be enormous” and “onerous to say the least”. Dr. Katzer of MIT concludes: “it may be cheaper to build a carbon-capture coal plant from scratch rather than try to retrofit an existing plant”. “Retrofit capital cost could easily be $800/kW”. “Retrofit power consumption penalty is around 30 percent”, a 600 MW coal plant would be reduced to a 425 MW plant. These are reported in the recent November 2007 issue of Power Engineering magazine. Estimates for construction of carbon pipelines could then be added.
If carbon dioxide pollution matters, could the two new 615 MW Oak Creek coal units now being constructed south of Milwaukee be obsolete before they are built? Recent scientific studies indicate tropical forests absorb and capture large amounts of carbon dioxide. A comprehensive regional solar and wind renewable energy, storage, and transmission plan is needed for comparative evaluations.
Joel Goodman,
14-12-2007
- USA
Coal trains to Wisconsin, to burn coal in Wisconsin, and then capture the CO2 carbon dioxide pollution at the coal plants, and build CO2 pipelines out of Wisconsin, to pump the CO2 back to the coal mine areas to be injected into permanent geologic storage-sequestration. The politicians recently signed “…we must begin to take action now…” in the Nov. 15, 2007 “Greenhouse Gas Reduction Accord”, organized by the Midwest Governors Association; and it appears to depend on coal fired carbon capture and construction of new CO2 pipelines to out of state geologic storage.
If large scale geologic carbon sequestration works, the hope is that it can be applied to the many coal plants being constructed and planned, in the USA, India, China, and globally, for example, the two 615 MW Oak Creek coal units now being constructed south of Milwaukee.
However, these are recent published technical expert comments: “Large-scale commercial carbon capture and sequestration have yet to be successfully demonstrated”; and “There’s no easy technological fix to deal with carbon capture and sequestration”.
US DOE estimates CO2 capture by existing methods from a new coal power plant raise electricity cost by 75 percent, reports the Edison Electric Institute (EEI). A DOE goal is to reduce this cost increase. R&D of new methods, if funded, to capture CO2 from flue gas could take 15 to 25 years before commercial application, according to EEI. And that’s only the CO2 capture part. Proposed carbon pipeline construction project cost estimates are high.
We do not have that much time, experts are saying we have about 10 years or less before the big global warming melt, with all the dire consequences. Furthermore, terrestrial CO2 sequestration, with photosynthesis, absorbing by trees, is important and possible lower cost than geologic sequestration, according to David Ball, Battelle manager of DOE’s MRCSP.
Concentrating Solar Power (CSP) makes steam with mirrors, and stored heat for electricity 24 hour/day. All the electricity now used in the USA could be supplied by CSP from the sunny southwest USA with a land area that adds up to a square of less than 100 miles x 100 miles. This is an area around the size bounded by Madison to Kenosha to Manitowoc to Stevens Point to Madison. The volume of manufactured CSP items (mechanical electrical motor trackers for reflectors, reflector support structures, receiver-boilers, etc.) to fill a land area of this size can be visualized. It could be a lot of manufacturing jobs for a long time. CSP in southwest Nebraska could be comparatively evaluated.
There were prototype CSP construction jobs, and reported plans with multi-million dollar contracts, to manufacture CSP technology in Manitowoc, Wisconsin, in the early 1990’s.
CSP technologies with thermal storage, and a cooperating interstate transmission grid could supply electricity in Wisconsin at all hours, in coordination with the wind farms, wind farm storage, PV roofing and PV pergolas. A regional and national electricity transmission plan based on renewable energy is needed for connecting the wind farms and solar power plants.
Solar collectors and other renewable energy technologies on the Governor’s mansion and grounds, could be useful first hand experience to compare the costs to: transporting coal to burn in Wisconsin, capture the CO2, build new CO2 pipelines, to pump CO2 out of state back to the coal mine areas for so-called permanent geologic carbon storage.
k.j.siddalinga prasad .,
14-12-2007
- india
It is better that the developed and developing countrys give priority to e-vehicles.
Todd Vin,
14-12-2007
- USA
I am so frustrated w/ Paula Dobriansky. I've emailed GA Senator Johnny Isakkson re: Ms. Dobriansky's incalcitrance. Unfortunately, this is the same senator who spoke at a local drought conference and said, "Only the Almighty Lord can deliver us from this drought!" He said this in front of professionals devoted to solving our water shortage.
