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EU rotating president, Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt addresses a press conference during the high-level segment of the United Nations Framework Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen, Denmark, Dec. 16, 2009. (Xinhua/Zeng Yi)
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COPENHAGEN, Dec. 16 (Xinhua) -- A battle is brewing over the future of the Kyoto Protocol, with the European Union saying Wednesday it was not enough to curb climate change and an agreement that was legally binding for all was needed.
Developing countries are calling for the protocol to remain central to climate change negotiations.
Swedish Environment Minister Andreas Carlgren, speaking on behalf of the European Union at the high-level segment of the Copenhagen climate change talks, said the EU wanted a comprehensive agreement building on all essentials of the Kyoto Protocol.
"The Kyoto Protocol alone covers less than a third of global emissions and will not be enough to win the battle against climate change," he said.
"We must strive for an agreement that is comprehensive, more ambitious, with broader participation and legally binding for all," Carlgren said.
However, developing countries, notably G77 and African groups, have said the call for a comprehensive deal for all was aimed at dismantling the Kyoto Protocol and discarding the principal of "common but differentiated responsibilities" for climate change.
Nafie Ali Nafie, head of the Sudanese delegation, who spoke on behalf of G77 and China at the talks, said developed countries were "in favour of a single undertaking, which is much weaker than the protocol and will undermine and reinterpret the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the Kyoto Protocol".
He said developed countries intended to undermine the principles of "equity, common but different responsibilities and respective capabilities" by throwing away the Kyoto Protocol.
"Group 77 wishes to stress the need to maintain the two-track outcome that the Kyoto Protocol is an essential instrument," Nafie said.
The African group warned at a press conference on Monday that "killing the Kyoto Protocol is killing Africa".
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(L-R) EU rotating president, Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt, Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi, EU Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso and African Union(AU) Commission Chairman Jean Ping attend a joint press conference during the high-level segment of the United Nations Framework Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen, Denmark, Dec. 16, 2009. (Xinhua/Zeng Yi)
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Developing nations stand firm on Kyoto
COPENHAGEN, Dec. 16 (Xinhua) -- Developing countries on Wednesday warned against discarding the Kyoto Protocol and protested a Danish attempt to supersede it with a compromise text without consulting them.
Denmark is hosting the United Nations climate change talks. Full story
Leaders of developing countries urges to reach legally binding agreement at Copenhagen climate conference
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Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe addresses the plenary session of the UNFCCC high-level segment in Copenhagen, Denmark, Dec. 16, 2009. World leaders attending the United Nations Framework Climate Change Conference (UNFCCC) in Copenhagen started to give their speeches on Wednesday, second day of the high-level segment of the conference. (Xinhua/Zhang Yuwei)
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COPENHAGEN, Dec. 16 (Xinhua) -- Leaders of Zimbabwe, Marshall, Vietnam, Suriname and Nauru called for sticking to two tracks and reach a legally binding agreement at high-level segment of the United Nations Climate Change Conference held here Wednesday.
Robert Mugabe, president of Zimbabwe, said, "We of Africa, aligned with our other brothers in the developing world, have made proposals predicated on principles of historical responsibility, common but differentiated responsibility and respective capabilities of parties. We stand by the Kyoto Protocol, with its full set of commitments which to this day for fulfillment." Full story
Umbrella Group countries pledge to act on climate change
COPENHAGEN, Dec 16 (Xinhua) -- The ten-nation Umbrella Group countries pledged here on Wednesday to act on climate change.
Australian Minister for Climate Change Penny Wong delivered the statement in the high-level segment of the U.N. climate conference on behalf of the Umbrella Group, which consists of Canada, Iceland, Japan, Kazakhstan, New Zealand, Norway, Russia, Ukraine, the United States and Australia. Full story
We are in an all-or-nothing situation: UN climate chief
COPENHAGEN, Dec. 16 (Xinhua) -- U.N. climate chief Yvo De Boer says the world is in an "all-or-nothing situation" and has urged major countries such as the United States to "act now".
"We either get a deal at the end of this week on Friday or we get nothing," De Boer, executive secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), said during an exclusive interview with Xinhua. Full story
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