With Lima climate talks entering critical period, Kerry tries to rally leaders to act
United States Secretary of State John Kerry delivers a speech at the U.N. Climate Change Conference in Lima, Peru, Thursday, Dec. 11, 2014.
Image: Rodrigo Abd/Associated Press
By Andrew Freedman 2014-12-12 01:03:53 UTC
Secretary of State John Kerry arrived in Lima, Peru on Thursday afternoon just as it appeared that the latest round of global climate treaty talks were on the verge of limping toward a dispiriting conclusion.
Kerry has long been dedicated to moving the world toward a future with lower emissions of greenhouse gases blamed for causing global warming, and he challenged all nations, rich and poor, to overcome differences over draft negotiating text and take a crucial step closer to reaching a new global climate agreement that would apply to the post-2020 period.
"This is an issue that is personal for me, just as it is personal for you," he said in a speech to delegates and journalists. "This issue should be personal for absolutely everybody."
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Leaders are facing a 2015 deadline for finalizing and passing a new climate treaty at a December summit in Paris, France. The Lima talks are aimed at coming up with the negotiating text that will be further honed in Paris and at a round of talks between now and then.
However, when Kerry touched down in Peru, the draft negotiating text had swelled to an unwieldy 50 pages plus, and discussions on it have proceeded in fits and starts as negotiators try to navigate different positions, political posturing and distrust bred over the course of more than two decades of climate diplomacy.
The key sticking points in the talks so far center on what will be required for countries to include as part of the nationally-determined emissions cuts they will announce early next year, as well as calls for more climate change-related adaptation and mitigation aid from industrialized countries going to developing nations.
Another big question hanging over the meeting is how a new treaty will ensure that each country's emissions commitments meet the needs of ensuring that global warming stays under the globally-agreed upon target of 2 degrees Celsius or 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit above preindustrial temperatures.
The U.S. wants the emissions reduction commitments, technically known as "Intended Nationally Determined Contributions," or INDCs, to focus mainly on actions to limit the severity of climate change, whereas many other countries want commitments for climate adaptation measures to be included as well. All INDCs are supposed to be finalized by the end of March 2015.
The text amounts to a wish list from nearly every party to the negotiations, and includes language that may not survive closer scrutiny but is consistent with recent climate science findings, such as a provision calling for zero greenhouse gas emissions starting in 2050.
Kerry's speech was clearly aimed at trying to reach negotiators who are frustrated about the impasses between rich and poor nations that have tended to dominate every negotiating session since climate diplomacy began more than two decades ago.
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry meets with U.S. Special Envoy for Climate Change Todd Stern after addressing the climate summit in Lima, Peru on Dec. 11, 2014.
Image: State Department/Flickr
Kerry repeatedly emphasized that "every nation has an obligation to do its part," including developing countries, where emissions are rising rapidly.
"If you are a big developed nation and you are not helping to lead, then you are part of the problem," Kerry said, in a subtle reference to countries such as Canada and Australia, whose governments have been openly skeptical of mainstream climate science, and are missing their previously agreed-to emissions reduction targets.
"There is nothing preordained about the course we're on, except habits, bad habits," Kerry said.
The U.S. has come into the Lima Climate Summit with considerably more clout than it has had in previous meetings, after striking a joint agreement with China to commit to further emissions reductions. The U.S.-China agreement, announced Nov. 12, marked the first time that China had agreed to halt the growth of its greenhouse gas emissions, promising to reach peak emissions on or before 2030. China also committed to dramatically expand its use of renewable energy sources for generating electricity.
Kerry: Countries have to set political posturing aside
Kerry cited the U.S.-China deal as inspiration for what is possible in Lima.
"We have to approach this problem with the urgency that it deserves," Kerry said, while acknowledging that the divisions between countries are still significant. "I know the discussions can be tense."
"The fact is that we simply don't have time going back and forth about whose responsibility it is to act," Kerry said, in reference to developing countries' demands that industrialized countries shoulder most of the burden for emissions reductions. Kerry said he and President Barack Obama understand that America's history as a major emitter since the start of the industrial revolution means that the U.S. must take the lead on this issue, but that doesn't mean that developing countries can keep building coal-fired power plants and increasing their emissions, since that would overwhelm the influence of the emissions cuts at home.
"No single country, not even the U.S., can solve this problem or foot this bill alone. That's not rhetoric, it is literally impossible," he said.
"It's the net amount of carbon that matters, not each country's share."
Environmental groups applauded Kerry for coming to Lima, becoming the first Secretary of State to attend the annual climate talks since Hillary Clinton did in 2009 at the Copenhagen Climate Summit.
"Kerry injected much-needed political energy into the sluggish negotiations here in Lima," said Lou Leonard of the World Wildlife Fund, in a statement. "Kerry's presence here should help to prop up the talks just as they are starting to falter and fall victim to political tunnel vision."
Other groups, such as Friends of the Earth, criticized the U.S. negotiating team in Lima for pushing for a non-legally binding global agreement in Paris, because of staunch opposition to a climate agreement in the upcoming Republican-controlled Senate.
Michael Jacobs, senior adviser to New Climate Economy and a former climate adviser to British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, said that despite the negotiating difficulties so far, Lima's goal of coming up with a workable negotiating text that will lead to the Paris talks in 2015 is likely to be accomplished in the end, even if it takes negotiators into the first part of the weekend.
"We need a text to take into negotiations next year," Jacobs said in an interview on Wednesday. "That is the outcome we wanted and we're going to get that."
"I don't see these positions so far apart that they can't be resolved."
Topics: Climate, climate talks, john kerry, Lima climate summit, U.S., World