Move to strike deal on emission cut may fail
Thursday, 24 September 2009
From Fazle Rashid
NEW YORK, Sept 23: The move to work out an agreement to curb emission of greenhouse gases with a view to replacing the Kyoto protocol has been doomed to failure. But Group of Twenty (G20) leaders exuded optimism about reaching an agreement on strategies to rein in practices that led to the brutally devastating global economic meltdown
Over hundred of head of government and state who have gathered in New York for the specially convened UN meeting will leave the city sorely disappointed. Prime Minister of Bangladesh Sheikh Hasina is leading a 55-member team, said to be the biggest to attend while India, a key player in climate change is being represented by its Environment Minister Ramesh Jairam.
Sheikh Hasina will not have the presence of the world dignatories like President Obama and President Hu Jiantao of China and others to hear when she delivers her speech. Nor will all her teammates have entry into the hall.
The negotiations for a new international agreement to curb emissions of greenhouse gases have stalled, making an agreement in Copenhagen by December difficult. In calling the conference the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon asked heads of government and state to set aside national concerns and become global leaders, the New York Times (NYT) said.
In speech after speech, presidents and prime ministers of countries large and small spoke with soaring promises about the importance of confronting the problem for future generations. But when it came down to the nuts and bolts promises of what they are prepared to do in the next decade, experts and analysts were disappointed that there were no bold new proposals, the same paper said.
China and the US account for more than 40 per cent of carbon emissions. President Obama said forging consensus will come slowly. President Hu Jaintao agreed to cut back gas emission by a noteable margin but did not specify. Of greater importance than climate change at the UN yesterday were President Obama making Netanyahua and Mahmoud Abbas to shake hands to mark a "new beginning" in the Middle-East peace process and Obama and Hu Jiantao talking about how to rein in global economy.
The G20 summit meeting to be held on Thursday and Friday at Pittsburg will come out with a rough consensus on " broad lessons from the crisis". The agreement will be on the need for higher capital reserve requirements at banks and other financial institutions. Requirements on capital reserves safety cushions against losses are at the heart of the risk taking behaviour of financial institutions, the NYT said. The most difficult area of discussion involves how to prevent the kind of huge economic imbalances that many analysts believe were central to the bubble and bust cycles of last several years, the same paper said.
NEW YORK, Sept 23: The move to work out an agreement to curb emission of greenhouse gases with a view to replacing the Kyoto protocol has been doomed to failure. But Group of Twenty (G20) leaders exuded optimism about reaching an agreement on strategies to rein in practices that led to the brutally devastating global economic meltdown
Over hundred of head of government and state who have gathered in New York for the specially convened UN meeting will leave the city sorely disappointed. Prime Minister of Bangladesh Sheikh Hasina is leading a 55-member team, said to be the biggest to attend while India, a key player in climate change is being represented by its Environment Minister Ramesh Jairam.
Sheikh Hasina will not have the presence of the world dignatories like President Obama and President Hu Jiantao of China and others to hear when she delivers her speech. Nor will all her teammates have entry into the hall.
The negotiations for a new international agreement to curb emissions of greenhouse gases have stalled, making an agreement in Copenhagen by December difficult. In calling the conference the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon asked heads of government and state to set aside national concerns and become global leaders, the New York Times (NYT) said.
In speech after speech, presidents and prime ministers of countries large and small spoke with soaring promises about the importance of confronting the problem for future generations. But when it came down to the nuts and bolts promises of what they are prepared to do in the next decade, experts and analysts were disappointed that there were no bold new proposals, the same paper said.
China and the US account for more than 40 per cent of carbon emissions. President Obama said forging consensus will come slowly. President Hu Jaintao agreed to cut back gas emission by a noteable margin but did not specify. Of greater importance than climate change at the UN yesterday were President Obama making Netanyahua and Mahmoud Abbas to shake hands to mark a "new beginning" in the Middle-East peace process and Obama and Hu Jiantao talking about how to rein in global economy.
The G20 summit meeting to be held on Thursday and Friday at Pittsburg will come out with a rough consensus on " broad lessons from the crisis". The agreement will be on the need for higher capital reserve requirements at banks and other financial institutions. Requirements on capital reserves safety cushions against losses are at the heart of the risk taking behaviour of financial institutions, the NYT said. The most difficult area of discussion involves how to prevent the kind of huge economic imbalances that many analysts believe were central to the bubble and bust cycles of last several years, the same paper said.