UN Chief tells Climate Summit:
Eyes of the world are on you
DENMARK: UN Chief Ban Ki-moon urged world leaders Tuesday at a
“defining moment in history” to put aside selfish national interest and
answer a global clamour to halt the juggernaut of climate change.
With just over three days left to broker one of the most ambitious,
yet also fiendishly complex, deals in human history, conference chair
Denmark appealed for all sides to embrace the spirit of compromise.
But China and the United States — the world’s two biggest carbon
polluters — brushed aside European calls for concessions on emissions
reductions, the thorniest issue of all.
The summit aims at sealing national pledges to curb the heat-trapping
carbon gases wreaking havoc with Earth’s climate system, and set up a
mechanism to provide billions of dollars for poor countries facing
worsening drought, flood, storms and rising seas. Crowned on Friday by a
meeting of some 120 heads of state and government, the outline political
deal would be fleshed out next year in further talks, culminating in a
treaty that would take effect from 2013.
But former US vice president and environmental activist Al Gore,
voicing widely held fears that Copenhagen might yield only a partial
success, called for world leaders to meet in Mexico City in July to
complete the process.
Ban, speaking at the formal start of the full ministerial session
known as the high level segment, spoke of a “defining moment in history.
“We know what we must do. We know what the world expects. Our job
here and now is to seal the deal, a deal in our common interest.” Talks
were moving too slowly, he warned.
“If they want to leave all these issues to the leaders, it may be
very difficult for them to agree in just one or two days,” he later told
reporters.
The talks’ chairwoman, Denmark’s Connie Hedegaard, said success was
still within reach.
But she added: “We can’t risk failure. No one here can carry that
responsibility. That means that the keyword for the next two days must
be compromise.”
But both China and the United States appeared in little mood to move
on the key issue of emissions.
US President Barack Obama has offered to cut US carbon emissions by
17 percent by 2020. COPENHAGEN, AFP
|