For UN and its leader, climate deal stakes high
John HeilprinFor Ban Ki-moon, bringing about a new U.N. climate treaty by the end of this year is a must.
Ban decided from the moment he became U.N. secretary-general in January 2007 that "climate change should be the most important top-priority issue for the United Nations, for the entire world," he said in an Associated Press interview this week.
Since then Ban says he has put "all my efforts and energy" into persuading nations to cut a new climate deal in Copenhagen, Denmark, in December, replacing the Kyoto Protocol for reducing greenhouse gases that expires in 2012.
"From day one, I have been trying to visit all the places around the world, wherever and whenever I was able to see the consequences of climate change," he said. "Now, the United Nations is leading this campaign, in close coordination with the ... major players."
That he's the leader, or figurehead, for a campaign he's personally and hugely invested in, isn't in dispute. What's harder to assess is his effectiveness. Ban isn't exactly a household name, and some believe whatever happens is largely beyond his control.
"It will be decided by heads of states, not by ministers," said Brice Lalonde, France's chief climate negotiator. "We don't have the Nelson Mandela of climate change — that's a real problem."
The U.N. General Assembly, which acts as a world forum for debate and sets the U.N. budget, agreed at its 3-day financial summit that ended Friday that the worst global financial crisis since the Great Depression of the 1930s "must not delay the necessary global response to climate change and environmental degradation."
Its members said they "acknowledge that the response to the crisis presents an opportunity to promote green economy initiatives" and also agreed to "encourage the utilization of national stimulus packages, for those countries in a position to do so" that include environmental and poverty-reduction measures.
Ban also says gaining commitments from rich nations to provide money and new pollution-control technology to developing countries is key.
"Otherwise, it will be very difficult," he said. "We don't have much time to lose. We have to seal the deal in Copenhagen. That's my firm commitment."
Much of the world is waiting to see what the biggest greenhouse gas polluters, the U.S. and China, can agree on.
In Washington, the House of Representatives has been debating whether to cut carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gas emissions by 17 percent from 2005 levels by 2020 and by about 80 percent by the next century. Both the Obama administration and Democrats want the bill passed by the end of the year, when negotiations at Copenhagen get under way. Senate approval of a climate bill, however, is considered a long shot.
In May, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi met with top Chinese officials and government advisers seeking a consensus on positions to take to the Copenhagen conference, but the outlook was unclear at best.
China says global warming is largely the responsibility of rich nations that should provide funds and technologies to developing countries to cut carbon emissions.
Copenhagen's hosts have begun to worry.
Connie Hedegaard, Denmark's climate and energy minister, said after talks this month in Bonn, Germany, that "there is no doubt that things are moving too slow" — even backsliding.
But she called it "encouraging that more countries are presenting national climate efforts, latest Mexico, which I hope will inspire others to move as well. Now."
Indeed, Western climate negotiators such as Lalonde say a consensus is emerging around new proposals put forth by Mexico and Norway.
Mexico proposes creating a global $10 billion "green fund" to which all but the very poorest countries would contribute that would provide funding for clean energy and environmental projects in developing countries. Norway suggests a fund financed by proceeds from auctioning emission permits.
Ban says one of his biggest accomplishments is that as recently as two years ago only "a handful of leaders" were truly interested in climate change, but now "more than 100 leaders" plan to attend a one-day climate summit he's sponsoring on September 22.
"We will use this, the first and the largest, and also almost the last occasion at the summit-level, to prepare almost the final groundwork" for Copenhagen, Ban promises. "I really sent out a strong message to the world."
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Associated Press Writer Edith M. Lederer contributed to this report.