PREVIEW-UN hopes climate talks speed up towards finish line
* Bangkok climate meeting last major round before Copenhagen
* U.N. says time running out, with major issues unresolved
* Negotiators face tough task cutting down draft climate text
By David Fogarty, Climate Change Correspondent, Asia
BANGKOK, Sept 28 (Reuters) - Delegates from about 190 nations meet in the Thai capital from Monday to try to refine a draft text of the world's most comprehensive pact to fight climate change, with time running out to try to seal a deal.
The Sept. 28 to Oct. 9 U.N. gathering is the last major negotiating session before environment ministers from around the globe meet in Copenhagen in December to produce a broader, tougher, agreement to succeed the Kyoto Protocol.
The United Nations says the negotiations are far too slow, with many major issues still to be resolved by year's end.
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon hosted a leaders' climate summit in New York last week meant to jumpstart the talks. The event yielding a pledge by China to cut its "carbon intensity", but fell short of the success Ban had hoped.
At a separate G20 meeting, leaders pledged new efforts to reach an agreement in Copenhagen and phase out subsidies for fossil fuels, but made no progress on funds for poorer nations.
U.N.-led climate negotiations this year have stalled over lack of trust, with poorer nations saying cash is crucial to ensure their economies become greener as they grow. Developing countries have also rebuffed calls for them to accept binding emissions reduction targets. (For a related Q+A, click on [ID:nSP503745])
Also critical is funding to help poorer nations deal with climate change. Low-lying nations such as Tuvalu and densely populated countries like China and India expect to be among the hardest hit by rising seas and droughts or intense storms.
More than 2,000 delegates in Bangkok will try to trim a 180-page draft into a more manageable document that lays out how all nations can curb the pace of climate change.
(To see the latest draft text, click on: here )
WINDOW TO COPENHAGEN
"What Bangkok really needs to do is to get a clarity of text, of what it is we can expect to get out of Copenhagen," said Kim Carstensen, head of conservation group WWF's global climate initiative.
Developing nations want cash and technology to curb the pace of greenhouse gas emissions and for rich nations to toughen emissions targets, saying they are responsible for most carbon pollution. For related factbox, click on: [ID:nL8211693]
"The negotiating text that's on the table really needs major attention in the three weeks of negotiating time that remain before Copenhagen," Yvo de Boer, head of the U.N. Climate Change Secretariat, told Reuters this month.
De Boer says rich nations must put new, credible sources of cash on the table at Copenhagen, with $10 billion as a starting point. Others call for much more.
"Developed countries can break the deadlock at the heart of these negotiations and show they mean business by committing at least US$150 billion to help people in developing countries," said Oxfam International Senior Climate Adviser Antonio Hill.
Australia tried to break the deadlock last week with a proposal to allow nations to sign up to verifiable emissions reduction steps that matched their national circumstances.
"My sense is that there is a broad sense that financing will be part of the deal," Jonathan Pershing, head of the U.S. delegation in Bangkok told Reuters.
"But there is an equal lack of clarity about how much we'll need and how it's going to be used....So a further understanding of where concerns lie will be a central part of this meeting."
After Bangkok, a one-week negotiating session in Barcelona will be the final U.N.-led round before December's gathering.
Many investors hope Copenhagen will create a framework that will lead to a global carbon trading market worth hundreds of billions of dollars a year and lead to a greening of the global economy that will create new businesses and millions of jobs. (Additional reporting by Alister Doyle in Oslo; Editing by Ron Popeski)
Source: Reuters
