Hague Climate Pact Fiasco Clouds Business Codes
Reuters) – The failure of U.N. climate talks has dashed business hopes for clear rules over potentially lucrative technology transfer to the developing world and the emerging market of trading greenhouse gas emissions.
Reuters) – The failure of U.N. climate talks has dashed business hopes for clear rules over potentially lucrative technology transfer to the developing world and the emerging market of trading greenhouse gas emissions.
"Business is disappointed with the outcome," said Nick Campbell, chairman of the Climate Change Working Group at the International Chamber of Commerce.
"We came here expecting a decision which would have clarified the rules and guidelines of the Kyoto Protocol. We now walk away as empty-handed as everyone else and leave as confused as when we arrived about the role we might play in contributing to solutions."
The two-week conference ended without agreement on measures to fight global warming, after the United States and the European Union failed to settle a bitter wrangle over ways to cut greenhouse gas emissions implicated in climate change.
However, there are tentative plans for the conference to resume some time next year, probably in Bonn.
"This decision represents a setback but not a permanent breakdown in the process," said Eileen Claussen, president of the U.S.-based Pew Center on Global Climate Change.
"I hope in the weeks and months ahead, all sides will lower their voices and resume discussions toward an agreement that can stand the test of time.
Many companies say the international fight against global warming will provide big growth opportunities to build clean power stations in developing countries, especially in Asia and Latin America, where electricity demand is soaring.
Such openings would be provided by the so-called clean development mechanism, a measure that allows countries to encourage companies to make clean investments to offset national obligations to cut emissions of greenhouse gases.
But the failure of The Hague talks meant that no such techniques were agreed.
"American businesses looking for the rules of the road under the Kyoto protocol have been left high and dry," said Glenn Kelly, executive director of Global Climate Coalition, an industry group.
The mechanism, and others including one allowing the trading of the right to pollute, were proposed under an agreement reached in Kyoto, Japan, in 1997 that set targets for cuts in emissions of heat-trapping gases.
At stake are investments worth billions of dollars, but companies are reluctant to invest in new schemes until they know how the terms of the Kyoto protocol will be implemented, executives say.
Emissions trading allows countries whose emissions are below their Kyoto targets to sell carbon credits to countries whose emissions are above their agreed pollution limits.
For businesses, the Kyoto agreement would open the doors to a vast variety of projects, ranging from renewable energy schemes to forestry plantations.
Green groups and the EU said Washington's enthusiastic advocacy of such measures amounted to a scam that would absolve the United States, the world's biggest polluter, from having to make any real cuts in emissions at home.
The lure of profits has helped change corporate attitudes to tackling climate change since the Kyoto summit when many companies, including all the oil giants, opposed measures to cut greenhouse gas emissions.
"The consensus on climate change has deepened in the last three years. Nowhere is this more true than in the business community," Frank Loy, U.S. chief negotiator at the talks, told delegates to the conference.
"(The companies) went to Kyoto largely to block action, but they have come to The Hague to contribute constructively."
© 2000 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.
"Business is disappointed with the outcome," said Nick Campbell, chairman of the Climate Change Working Group at the International Chamber of Commerce.
"We came here expecting a decision which would have clarified the rules and guidelines of the Kyoto Protocol. We now walk away as empty-handed as everyone else and leave as confused as when we arrived about the role we might play in contributing to solutions."
The two-week conference ended without agreement on measures to fight global warming, after the United States and the European Union failed to settle a bitter wrangle over ways to cut greenhouse gas emissions implicated in climate change.
However, there are tentative plans for the conference to resume some time next year, probably in Bonn.
"This decision represents a setback but not a permanent breakdown in the process," said Eileen Claussen, president of the U.S.-based Pew Center on Global Climate Change.
"I hope in the weeks and months ahead, all sides will lower their voices and resume discussions toward an agreement that can stand the test of time.
Many companies say the international fight against global warming will provide big growth opportunities to build clean power stations in developing countries, especially in Asia and Latin America, where electricity demand is soaring.
Such openings would be provided by the so-called clean development mechanism, a measure that allows countries to encourage companies to make clean investments to offset national obligations to cut emissions of greenhouse gases.
But the failure of The Hague talks meant that no such techniques were agreed.
"American businesses looking for the rules of the road under the Kyoto protocol have been left high and dry," said Glenn Kelly, executive director of Global Climate Coalition, an industry group.
The mechanism, and others including one allowing the trading of the right to pollute, were proposed under an agreement reached in Kyoto, Japan, in 1997 that set targets for cuts in emissions of heat-trapping gases.
At stake are investments worth billions of dollars, but companies are reluctant to invest in new schemes until they know how the terms of the Kyoto protocol will be implemented, executives say.
Emissions trading allows countries whose emissions are below their Kyoto targets to sell carbon credits to countries whose emissions are above their agreed pollution limits.
For businesses, the Kyoto agreement would open the doors to a vast variety of projects, ranging from renewable energy schemes to forestry plantations.
Green groups and the EU said Washington's enthusiastic advocacy of such measures amounted to a scam that would absolve the United States, the world's biggest polluter, from having to make any real cuts in emissions at home.
The lure of profits has helped change corporate attitudes to tackling climate change since the Kyoto summit when many companies, including all the oil giants, opposed measures to cut greenhouse gas emissions.
"The consensus on climate change has deepened in the last three years. Nowhere is this more true than in the business community," Frank Loy, U.S. chief negotiator at the talks, told delegates to the conference.
"(The companies) went to Kyoto largely to block action, but they have come to The Hague to contribute constructively."
© 2000 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.
