EU plays hide & seek on climate

NEW DELHI: With the semifinal round of climate negotiations beginning in Barcelona on Monday, the European Union cocked another snook at developing countries, refusing to put on the table any fixed amount that it was willing to offer as compensation for adaptation and greenhouse gas mitigation.
While the five days of negotiations in Barcelona are not expected to lead to a comprehensive agreement, the clamour for a ���political statement��� has increased in the past fortnight.The call for a statement to be signed by political heads of states took root with the EU as well as the US now adamant that they would not be able to conjure up figures for their short-term GHG mitigation targets or financial support for the developing world.
The EU, at the end of a two-day high-level summit, could only put forth a figure for total financial support required to limit damage by climate change but, owing to internal bickering, refused to put a number to its commitment.
Instead, it decided to make ���comparable commitments��� in comparison with other countries. EU developed cold feet on its obligations, after years of professed leadership over the international issue, within days of the host country for UN meet in December, Denmark, suggesting that a political agreement at Copenhagen should be reached instead of a full deal, which ���should capture and encourage the contributions individual countries are willing to undertake within all areas of Bali roadmap, including specific and binding commitments on mitigation and finance���.
The statement raised eyebrows of policy makers in India with the Danish PM suggesting that these ���political pledges��� should be up for international scrutiny.
Noting the terminology used as similar to the proposals loosely referred to as the Australian proposal, backed by both the US and the EU, Indian negotiators warned that such a political statement could again put all countries, regardless of their status under the existing UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, on the same page and discard differential between rich countries and the rest. The ���pledge and review��� formula, if the political statement is not carefully negotiated, they warned, could also fit in well with US-backed proposition that recommends all countries, including India, to convert their domestic legislations on climate change into international commitments.
With Europe having also shifted its weight from behind the existing Kyoto Protocol to a new single treaty, the Danish formula could be launch pad for such a new treaty, observers in India said. In another warning signal that an attempt may be made to take the deal out of the hands of negotiators, the Danish PM suggested that ���[the political agreement] will both provide guidance for our lawyers to finalize details of internationally legal binding agreement and for world leaders to commit to specific immediate action, starting January 2010���.