'No change' US blasted at talks

The European Commission's chief negotiator has rebuked the US for obstructing the climate change negotiations taking place in Bangkok.

Delegates from about 180 countries are gathered to prepare the negotiating text of the new climate treaty to replace the Kyoto Protocol. The Bangkok Climate Change Talks end on Friday.

While the EC recently has agreed to increase its share of public financing for developing countries, the US, the world's largest polluter, has remained silent on a number of its positions, Artur Runge-Metzger, EC chief climate negotiator, said yesterday.

"The US is still unable to say how much it intends to reduce its emissions because its domestic legislation is still before the Senate," Mr Runge-Metzger told a seminar at the Foreign Affairs Ministry.

"If the US assumes commitment, that will help us a lot."

Mr Runge-Metzger referred to a political situation in the US where a climate change bill - seeking to cut the country's greenhouse gas emissions by 20% on the 2005 level by the year 2020 - is unlikely to be passed into law before the Copenhagen meeting in December to finalise the new climate treaty.

US President Barack Obama's energy adviser, Carol Browner, revealed in Washington last Friday the administration did not expect the Senate to vote on a climate change bill before the Copenhagen summit.

"The length of clarity acts as a brake on the larger part of the negotiation," Mr Runge-Metzger said. A number of developed and developing countries will use this as an excuse to hide their intentions to cut emissions, he said.

The EC earlier this month estimated that developing countries would need at least 100 billion euros (49 trillion baht) a year to combat climate change and adapt to its impact. The bloc then pledged to pay only 2 billion to 15 billion baht yearly.

But Mr Runge-Metzger said the EC had agreed recently to increase its finance for developing countries to combat climate change and adapt to its impact.

The increased figure is to 20 billion to 50 billion euros annually in the period to 2020, expecting to begin next year.

Mr Runge-Metzger said the annual finance target of 100 billion euros could be reached because the additional larger part of about 40 billion euros annually would come from the private sector via the expended international carbon market.

The EC also believes all countries, except the least developed ones, should contribute to the public finance.

For emission reduction, the bloc agreed last December to the 20% cut by the year 2020.

The chief negotiator said it would scale up its cut to 30% subject to two conditions. The first was for all developed countries to commit to reductions comparable to the EC's efforts.

The second condition was that developing countries, particularly the big economies, make an adequate effort to control emission growth, but not to cut their emissions in absolute terms, he said.

"Scientific analysis suggests that developing countries, as a group, need to limit the increase in emissions to 15-20% below business as usual levels in the year 2020," he said.

The EC also proposed to reduce gross deforestation by 50% by the year 2020.

However, it is clear now that negotiators are not going to cut the Copenhagen deal in Bangkok, Mr Runge-Metzger said, adding one of the key reasons was because some key players here had refused to move from their well-known positions.

"Negotiators nevertheless need to start looking now at where the compromises are on even the most difficult issues," he said.