Climate talks end with progress despite U.S.
Delegates make agreements on oceans, agriculture
Associated Press
BONN, Germany — As the first glimmer of dawn appeared across the Rhine River, delegates stumbled out of an all-night negotiating session at this year’s global climate talks, expressing satisfaction Saturday at the progress made toward creating a comprehensive rule book for fighting global warming.
The two-week meeting in Bonn, Germany, was billed as a “blue-collar” event designed to hammer out the technical details of the 2015 Paris climate accord. But fears had loomed large beforehand that the administration of President Donald Trump, who rejects the Paris agreement, would seek to block any advances seen as counter to American interests.
In the end, most agreed that U.S. diplomats had engaged constructively, while delegations from several American states, cities and businesses were praised for committing themselves to the goals of the Paris agreement.
The role of spoiler almost fell to Saudi Arabia, which held up a final agreement for several hours over objections to a phrase it feared might allow for future levies on fossil fuels like oil.
“There has been positive momentum all around us,” said Fiji’s Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama, who presided over the meeting and swung the gavel to close it about 7 a.m.
“We leave Bonn having notched up some notable achievements,” Mr. Bainimarama said, citing agreements on agriculture, ocean protection, indigenous people’s rights and the launch of a new system to help people in poor countries get insurance against the effects of climate change.
Many countries are already feeling the heat that is enveloping the globe, with dramatic floods, hurricanes and droughts in recent months adding a sense of urgency to the talks.
Environmental groups expressed satisfaction at the outcome of the negotiations, while noting there’s much still to do and little time left to ensure the Paris accord’s goal of keeping global warming significantly below 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit is met.
Experts say worldwide average temperatures have already risen 1 degree since pre-industrial times, largely due to carbon emissions from the United States and Europe over the past century.
“The conference gets a grade of ‘meets expectations,’” said Andrew Deutz of The Nature Conservancy, an Arlington, Va.-based environmental group. “We are still headed in the right direction, but since the U.S. took its foot off the accelerator, the risk of global climate action slowing down has increased.”
U.S. diplomat Judith Garber, speaking at the talks Thursday, reiterated Mr. Trump’s position that the United States will leave the Paris accord, but added that “we remain open to the possibility of rejoining at a later date under terms more favorableto the American people.”
Ms. Garber, the acting assistant secretary of state for oceans and international environmental and scientific affairs, said Washington remains “committed to mitigating greenhouse gas emissions through, among other things, increased innovation on sustainable energy and energy efficiency, and working toward low greenhouse gas emissions energy systems.”
The conciliatory tone coming from U.S. diplomats was at odds with the more combative position taken by White House adviser George David Banks, who raised eyebrows by hosting a procoal event during the talks.
“Having already abandoned its leadership role on climate, the Trump administration appears to be living in an alternate universe with its focus on fossil fuels,” said Paula Caballero, who heads the climate program of the Washington-based World Resources Institute.
Ms. Caballero noted that the leaders of U.S. states, cities and businesses — who came to Bonn separately from the White House and State Department delegations — earned widespread approval for pledging to honor the Paris accord.
Germany, which hosted the meeting, received mixed reviews. While many praised the country’s negotiators for brokering deals between opposing groups at the talks, there was also disappointment that German Chancellor Angela Merkel failed to join other rich countries in announcing a firm deadline for phasing out the use of coal-fired power plants.
Ms. Merkel is currently locked in coalition talks with the environmentalist Green party and the probusiness Free Democrats, who disagree about the use of coal.
While more than 20 nations, led by Britain and Canada, pledged to stop burning coal, Ms. Merkel defended her country’s use of the fuel and the need to preserve jobs in the industry. Meanwhile Poland’s continued and extensive use of coal raised concerns that the next meeting, to be held in the nation’s mining heartland of Katowice, could thwart progress.
“People don’t have total confidence that Poland wants to increase ambition, to put it plainly,” said Alden Meyer, director of strategy at the Union of Concerned Scientists, an advocacy group. “They’re 80 percent dependent on coal, they’ve been pushing back against European Union proposals to increase ambition.”
A growing group of countries are promising to end coal use altogether, saying its economic appeal is diminishing as carbon taxes push up costs while solar is increasingly competitive. Ms. Merkel herself led the world in installing renewable energy in recent years, but the pressures of forming a new government have seen her waver. Her change of tone at the Bonn talks, which were already clouded by Mr. Trump’s vow to take the U.S. out of the landmark Paris accord, fueled concern over the deal’sfuture as delegates look nervouslyto Katowice.
“The host of a meeting is a pretty important group,” said Jake Schmidt, a director at the U.S. Natural Resources Defense Council. “We fully expect to see Poland selling us on how awesome their coal is.”
Poland, hosting the talks in December next year, has said coal will be key to its energy security for decades. That worries those pushing for tougher pollution limits, who say the country’s stance — together with Mr. Trump’s pledge — could derail efforts agreed on in Paris two years ago to keep global warming since pre-industrial times to “well below” 2 degrees.
“If we can’t persuade Poland to make the transition, then we’re not going to succeed with Paris” targets, said Bob Ward, policy and communications director at the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment at the London School of Economics.
The promises that countries made in Paris aren’t enough to meet the temperature target they set. Faltering political will and rising emissions mean the world is on track for an increase of 3.4 degrees by the end of the century, according to the United Nations.
While the country holding the rotating presidency of the annual U.N. talks doesn’t have a direct role in the content of the discussions, its participation is seen as crucial in driving the agenda, particularly when nations disagree on a particular issue. The failure of the 2009 Copenhagen talks was in part blamed on weak leadership shown by the Danish government. Since then, hosting nations have gone out of their way to ensure they have a clear, strong plan in place to deliver success while they’re in charge.
Poland’s presidency, which the country will start preparing for now, follows this summit’s Fiji presidency. In the final text from the Bonn talks — known formally as the Conference of the Parties — Fiji committed to press for greater ambitions to tackle climate change, even after its presidency ends.
“We have been fighting so much during this COP to make sure Fiji gets a good handle on this,” said Yamide Dagnet, senior associate at the Washington-based World Resources Institute. Fiji must be positioned “to lead that process with Poland, and not just leave Poland to deal with the ambition game, because otherwise we really have lower expectations.”