Asia leaders acknowledge climate-change role
Friday, 14 December 2007
John Aglionby in Nusa Dua, Bali, FT Syndication Service
Asian leaders joined the United Nations on Wednesday in calling for developing countries to take greater responsibility for fighting climate change by pursuing more environmentally friendly poverty-alleviation strategies.
Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, the Indonesian president, Kevin Rudd, Australia's prime minister, and Lee Hsien Loong, Singapore's prime minister, told the opening of the high-level section of the UN's climate change conference in Bali that it was imperative to find a global solution to the crisis.
The calls put pressure on China, the world's second-largest emitter of greenhouse gases, to take on more formal commitments.
During the Bali conference, which is seeking to agree a roadmap to formally begin negotiations on a successor to the Kyoto protocol, Beijing has shown flexibility over issues other than developing countries' responsibilities.
India has insisted that industrialised nations should meet their existing commitments to reduce greenhouse gas emissions before it takes significant action.
Mr Yudhoyono told the opening ceremony that while developed countries, which are responsible for causing climate change historically, must lead the fight against global warming, the world must chart a "new course".
"Now is the time that we specify more clearly how to best implement this concept of 'common but differentiated responsibilities' beyond generalities, beyond promises, into concrete numbers, concrete programmes, concrete schemes, [a] concrete roadmap.
"Developing countries too must do our part. Developing countries must commit to a path of sustainable development by mainstreaming the environment in our national development plans."
Mr Rudd received a long ovation Wednesday for ratifying the Kyoto protocol within hours of taking office last week. He said the conference must move forward as "a truly 'United Nations' with developed and developing nations working in parallel".
"The world expects us to deliver binding targets," he said. "It expects us to deliver specific commitments. It expects us to pull together and for all of us to do our fair share."
Mr Lee said the global solution must reflect national circumstances and that "poverty is not a solution to global warming".
But he acknowledged that Asian emerging economies are becoming major greenhouse gas emitters. "Rich or poor, all countries will have to do their part for the environment. Collectively, we share this problem and must solve it together."
Ban Ki-moon, the UN secretary-general, has repeated several times during his current Asian trip that developing countries have to do more to tackle climate change. He said a new global agreement must be fair, reflecting everyone's responsibility to act.
Asian leaders joined the United Nations on Wednesday in calling for developing countries to take greater responsibility for fighting climate change by pursuing more environmentally friendly poverty-alleviation strategies.
Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, the Indonesian president, Kevin Rudd, Australia's prime minister, and Lee Hsien Loong, Singapore's prime minister, told the opening of the high-level section of the UN's climate change conference in Bali that it was imperative to find a global solution to the crisis.
The calls put pressure on China, the world's second-largest emitter of greenhouse gases, to take on more formal commitments.
During the Bali conference, which is seeking to agree a roadmap to formally begin negotiations on a successor to the Kyoto protocol, Beijing has shown flexibility over issues other than developing countries' responsibilities.
India has insisted that industrialised nations should meet their existing commitments to reduce greenhouse gas emissions before it takes significant action.
Mr Yudhoyono told the opening ceremony that while developed countries, which are responsible for causing climate change historically, must lead the fight against global warming, the world must chart a "new course".
"Now is the time that we specify more clearly how to best implement this concept of 'common but differentiated responsibilities' beyond generalities, beyond promises, into concrete numbers, concrete programmes, concrete schemes, [a] concrete roadmap.
"Developing countries too must do our part. Developing countries must commit to a path of sustainable development by mainstreaming the environment in our national development plans."
Mr Rudd received a long ovation Wednesday for ratifying the Kyoto protocol within hours of taking office last week. He said the conference must move forward as "a truly 'United Nations' with developed and developing nations working in parallel".
"The world expects us to deliver binding targets," he said. "It expects us to deliver specific commitments. It expects us to pull together and for all of us to do our fair share."
Mr Lee said the global solution must reflect national circumstances and that "poverty is not a solution to global warming".
But he acknowledged that Asian emerging economies are becoming major greenhouse gas emitters. "Rich or poor, all countries will have to do their part for the environment. Collectively, we share this problem and must solve it together."
Ban Ki-moon, the UN secretary-general, has repeated several times during his current Asian trip that developing countries have to do more to tackle climate change. He said a new global agreement must be fair, reflecting everyone's responsibility to act.