Poznań climate talks leave 'heavy lifting' for 2009

Members of the European Parliament's delegation to the UN Climate Change Conference in Poznań welcomed the meeting's conclusions, describing them as an important halfway point on the road to the 2009 Copenhagen conference.

"A positive message that we will bring back from Poznań is confirmation of the clear commitment by the incoming US administration to actively contribute to the fight against climate change, both through domestic measures and at international level," said Italian Socialist MEP Guido Sacconi (PES, IT), chair of the Parliament's temporary committee on climate change and co-chair of the EP delegation to Poznań. 

"The words of optimism we heard from both Senator John Kerry and [former Vice President] Al Gore do give us great hope that next year in Copenhagen the EU will not be alone in leading [the world] towards an ambitious international agreement," he added. 

International NGO Oxfam welcomed a decision to grant developing countries direct access to the Climate Change Adaptation Fund. But it denounced "stonewalling" by rich countries over the funding mechanism. "This was an important decision on the crucial issues of accountability, effectiveness and control over the money available to poor countries for urgent adaptation needs," said Barry Coates, a senior Oxfam executive. "However, the elephant in the room is still where the money for adaptation is going to come from. We urgently needed a decision on increased future funding for adaptation, but we didn't get there."

Much of the controversy was sparked by the $60 million fund unblocked by developed countries to help tackle climate change. The money will be raised by a 2% levy on the clean development mechanism (CDM), which allows nations to meet their Kyoto Protocol commitments by reducing emissions in developing countries.

The EU and the UN agree that billions are needed to for the task. A proper adaptation fund would run between $50 and $80 billion a year, according to independent and UN estimates. "It is a very big achievement," Polish Environment Minister Maciej Nowicki said, commenting on the aid deal. "That will lay the necessary groundwork for an ambitious outcome in Copenhagen," he added. 

India angrily accused rich nations of "callousness, strategising and obfuscation," noting that the victims of climate change are often the poorest of the poor. "We are going to have to put much more energy into bridging the growing gap between the two sides," Ghana's envoy told the meeting. "It's a vision gap, and that is not a good sign for the future," he added. 

Su Wei, one of China's top negotiators, said most decisions made in Poznań were "almost empty" because industrialised nations had not provided details on how they would transfer technology to developing countries and help them adapt to global warming. 

Commenting on the outcome of the conference, UNFCCC Executive Secretary Yvo de Boer said the meeting had caused bitterness due to its failure to resolve the adaptation issue. "Let's be honest, doing a deal in Copenhagen is to an important extent about engaging developing countries. And an important part of engaging developing countries is mobilising resources," de Boer said. Rich countries, he continued, refrained from committing because they see it "as part of a financial package to deliver a broader agreement".

But the EU said allowing easy access to cash in an economic downturn could set an incongruous precedent. "We also want to secure the credibility of the use of the money and the credibility of the projects," said German Environment Minister Sigmar Gabriel.