Copenhagen Meeting
Danish Prime Minister Lars Loekke Rasmussen has said there must be firm pledges on greenhouse gas reductions at December’s climate talks in Copenhagen.
Mr Rasmussen said he wanted delegates to put “numbers on the table” and reach a “concrete and binding” agreement.
The summit will attempt to draw up a new global climate treaty to supplant the UN’s 1997 Kyoto Protocol.
Earlier, US President Barack Obama said the US and China agreed on the need for a comprehensive deal in Copenhagen.
The Chinese prime minister, Wen Jiabao, will attend the Copenhagen climate talks next month, the government said amid mounting speculation that the world’s biggest emitter will soon revise targets to tackle global warming.
A day after the US president, Barack Obama, confirmed he will be present at the early stages of the conference, the foreign ministry spokesman, Qin Gang, said Wen would join the gathering, which aims to set a global roadmap for reducing emissions.
Brazil, Indonesia and South Korea have recently released their carbon goals. The US has said it will also bring a numerical commitment to the negotiating table.
America and India today pledged common action to fight climate change and to build a new global clean energy economy, claiming the new “green partnership” between two of the world’s biggest emitters would help produce a strong political deal at next month’s summit in Copenhagen.
Barack Obama and visiting Indian prime minister, Manmohan Singh, both committed to “significant mitigation actions”, ie reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
Australia’s government today took a key step toward passing legislation to curb greenhouse gas emissions by negotiating a compromise deal with the opposition Liberal Party. The prime minister, Kevin Rudd, also urged lawmakers to support the bill.
The government plan would institute a tax on industries’ carbon emissions starting in 2011 and would limit Australia’s overall pollution. The government wants to slash Australia’s emissions by up to 25% below 2000 levels by 2020 if the UN can agree on tough global targets next month at climate talks in Copenhagen.
Filed Under: Environment
