UN chief cautious on Copenhagen pact amid boycott

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moonBan Ki-moon said Tuesday that world nations are unlikely to strike agreement on details of a new climate change pact at a key U.N. summit next month. Meanwhile, African countries boycotted meetings at U.N. climate talks in Barcelona, saying industrial countries had set carbon-cutting targets too low for reducing global greenhouse gas emissions.

Ban said he no longer expects nations to commit to firm emissions limits at the December summit in Copenhagen, Denmark. "I'm reasonably optimistic that Copenhagen will be a very important milestone. At the same time, realistically speaking, we may not be able to agree all the words," Ban told reporters after holding talks in London with British Prime Minister Gordon BrownGordon Brown.

The new pact – which is being worked on at U.N. talks this week in Barcelona, Spain – is meant to replace the 1997 Kyoto Protocol when it expires in 2012. The Kyoto treaty committed 37 industrialized nations to cut greenhouse gases, while the new pact would apply to developing countries as well.

Years of negotiations over the new pact have been dogged by disputes between industrial and developing nations. In Barcelona, delegates warned that, unless the African protest was settled, it could set back the timetable for concluding a new climate change pact in Copenhagen. The boycott forced several technical meetings to be canceled, while the 50 or so African countries said they would only discuss pledges submitted by wealthy countries.

Most vulnerable

The African countries say they are the most vulnerable to climate change yet the least responsible for the accumulation of carbon in the atmosphere that is causing global warming. A landmark 2007 U.N. report based on the work of about 2,000 scientists predicted Africa would suffer the most from drought, agricultural damage, rising sea levels threatening coastal areas and the spread of tropical pests and diseases.

Scientists say industrial countries should reduce emissions by 25 to 40 percent from 1990 levels by 2020, but targets announced so far amount to far less than the minimum.

The Copenhagen deal would succeed the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, which called on 37 industrial countries to reduce emissions of heat-raising gases by an average 5 percent below 1990 levels by 2012. It made no demands on major developing countries like India and China. The United States was the only major greenhouse gas emitter to reject the Kyoto accord.

The U.S., which says it wants to be part of the Copenhagen deal, has been criticized for delaying any announcement at this week's climate talks of its emissions target. The U.S. delegation says it is waiting for Congress to finish work on climate and energy legislation. Those bills suggest the U.S. would cut emissions only about 4 percent below 1990 levels over the next decade. On Monday, the U.S. came under renewed pressure to declare its intentions at the U.N. talks before the decisive Copenhagen meeting from Dec. 7-18.

Denmark's minister for climate and energy, Connie Hedegaard, noted that President Barack ObamaBarack Obama would be in nearby Norway accepting the Nobel Peace Prize while the Copenhagen conference is under way. She said it was "hard to imagine" that Obama, who was cited by the Nobel committee for his climate-friendly policies, would send his delegation to Copenhagen empty-handed.