logo
Weather page
GET THE APP
ePaper
google_play
app_store
  • Login
  • E-Edition
  • News
  • Sports
  • Obituaries
  • Opinion
  • Classifieds
    • Place an Ad
    • All Listings
    • Jobs
  • Special Sections
  • Photo Gallery
  • Contests
  • Lifestyle/Entertainment
  • Games
    • News
      • Local News
      • PA State News
      • Nation/World
    • Sports
      • Local
      • College Sports
      • State
      • National
    • Obituaries
    • Opinion
      • News
        • Local News
        • PA State News
        • Nation/World
      • Sports
        • Local
        • College Sports
        • State
        • National
      • Obituaries
      • Opinion
    logo
    • Classifieds
      • Place an Ad
      • All Listings
      • Jobs
    • E-Edition
    • Subscribe
    • Login
      • Classifieds
        • Place an Ad
        • All Listings
        • Jobs
      • E-Edition
      • Subscribe
      • Login
    Home News Talks on climate deal heat up over bill for global warming
    Talks on climate deal heat up over bill for global warming
    News, World
    October 24, 2015

    Talks on climate deal heat up over bill for global warming

    BONN, Germany (AP) — The trillion-dollar question of who should pay for global warming is coming to a head in talks on an international climate pact, as developing countries worry they won’t get enough money to tackle the problem.

    With just five weeks left before a U.N. climate summit in Paris, developing countries closed ranks at weeklong talks that ended Friday in Bonn and called on wealthy nations to make firm financial commitments to help them fight and adapt to climate change.

    The Paris summit “will be judged by what is contained in the core agreement on finance. For us, that will be the yardstick for success,” said Nozipho Mxakato-Diseko of South Africa, who chairs a developing country bloc of 134 countries.

    In testy exchanges with the Algerian and U.S. diplomats leading the climate talks, Mxakato-Diseko complained that a draft deal they produced was “lopsided” in favor of developed countries. She even drew an analogy to apartheid.

    Western delegates said they were disappointed by the characterization of the talks as a rich-poor struggle over responsibilities to address climate change.

    “We strongly oppose that division,” Netherlands climate envoy Michel Rentenaar told The Associated Press. “If there is a division, it’s perhaps between those who want an ambitious accord and those who don’t.”

    The slow pace in Bonn contrasted with the momentum outside the U.N. talks. Leaders of the Group of Seven wealthy economies this year endorsed “deep cuts” in climate-warming greenhouse gases, top polluters China and the U.S. deepened their cooperation on climate issues and Pope Francis called fighting climate change a moral imperative.

    Yet delegates said it wasn’t surprising that negotiations on the Paris agreement would get stuck on money — always a stumbling block in the U.N. talks — and that it probably would be one of the last issues to get untangled.

    The Paris deal is likely to have some provisions on financing projects to fight global warming for poor countries. The question is how specific they will be.

    “Some people just want to plant a few seeds and some want the rosebush in full bloom,” said Alden Meyer, an observer of the talks from the Union of Concerned Scientists.

    Developed countries have agreed to boost the flow of climate finance to $100 billion annually by 2020, but are reluctant to make firm commitments beyond that, partly because of budget uncertainties. They also want to expand the pool of donors to include China and other emerging economies.

    European Union negotiator Sarah Blau said that was already happening outside the negotiations, pointing to a recent U.S.-China announcement where Beijing pledged $3.1 billion in climate finance to poor countries. The U.N. talks, she said, are “somehow detached from what’s happening really on the ground.”

    The money is used in two ways. First, to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by helping developing countries switch from high-polluting fossil fuels to wind, solar and other renewable sources of energy. Second, to help the most vulnerable countries including small island nations adapt to climate change by building barriers against rising seas or developing drought-resilient crops.

    Climate finance is hard to measure because there are no common standards on what to count. A recent report by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development estimated climate finance flows reached $62 billion in 2014, which developed countries took as a sign they were well on track toward the $100 billion.

    Mxakato-Diseko dismissed those figures as unreliable “because we don’t know what methodology was used, the veracity thereof, the credibility thereof.”

    Coalescing around the finance issue, developing countries appeared more united in Bonn than at previous talks this year and collectively rejected a 20-page draft agreement they said didn’t address their concerns. Amendments were made to the text, adding many competing options but few compromises. When the conference had ended Friday, the agreement had swelled to 55 pages.

    “The bad news is that it is no longer a concise text,” U.N. climate chief Christiana Figueres said.

    U.S. climate envoy Todd Stern called the growing text “fully to be expected” and said negotiators would have to refine it in Paris.

    “It’s what we have and we’ll go to work,” Stern told reporters.

    A deal in the French capital would be the first asking all countries to take action to reduce emissions. The previous agreement, the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, only required emissions targets from developing countries.

    This time more than 150 countries have announced emissions targets for after 2020, when the Paris deal would take effect.

    However, all commitments are voluntary so far. European attempts to make them compulsory in the agreement face stiff resistance from the Obama administration, which needs to submit any internationally binding targets to a skeptical Senate for approval.

    ___

    Karl Ritter can be reached on Twitter at https://twitter.com/karl_ritter

    Tags:

    business climate energy and the environment environment environment and nature environmental concerns environmental laws and regulations environmental policy general news government and politics government policy government regulations international relations summits technology
    KARL RITTER

    The Bradford Era

    Local & Social
    Latest news for you
    Local oil purchasers increase prices
    Business, Local News
    Local oil purchasers increase prices
    June 16, 2025
    Two local oil purchasers have increased the price they will pay for Penn grade crude oil. Effective Friday, American Refining Group and Ergon Oil Purc...
    Read More...
    {"to-print":"To print", "bradfordera-website":"Website"}
    Isolated Torrey pine populations yield insights into genetic diversity
    Nation & World, PA State News
    Isolated Torrey pine populations yield insights into genetic diversity
    June 15, 2025
    UNIVERSITY PARK — Entire regions of trees are disappearing because of invasive pests, disease and a changing climate. The key to their ability to adap...
    Read More...
    Pa. charter school CEOs earn more money than superintendents and oversee fewer students
    PA State News
    Pa. charter school CEOs earn more money than superintendents and oversee fewer students
    By OLIVER MORRISON  pennlive.com 
    June 15, 2025
    HARRISBURG (TNS) — Brad Hatch grew up near Altoona and started his career as a teacher in the local school district, working his way up to assistant p...
    Read More...
    Pa. is supposed to ‘immediately’ suspend teachers charged with serious crimes. That doesn’t always happen.
    PA State News
    Pa. is supposed to ‘immediately’ suspend teachers charged with serious crimes. That doesn’t always happen.
    June 14, 2025
    PHILADELPHIA (TNS)— For months after he was arrested in March 2024 on charges of masturbating in a Montgomery County cemetery, Matthew Gagat continued...
    Read More...
    No Kings rally in Veterans Square
    Local News, Nation & World
    No Kings rally in Veterans Square
    By SAVANNAH BARR s.barr@bradfordera.com 
    June 14, 2025
    Veterans Square was packed Saturday afternoon as residents came together to express their discontent with the current administration during the local ...
    Read More...
    {"newsletter-daily-headlines":"Daily Headlines", "newsletters":"Newsletters", "to-print":"To print", "bradfordera-website":"Website"}
    Advocates, lawmakers push to limit solitary confinement in Pa. prisons
    Advocates, lawmakers push to limit solitary confinement in Pa. prisons
    June 14, 2025
    HARRISBURG (TNS) — Reform advocates are making another push to limit the use of solitary confinement in Pennsylvania prisons and jails, a long-running...
    Read More...
    {"bradfordera-website":"Website"}
    ePaper
    google_play
    app_store
    This Week's Ads
    Current e-Edition
    ePaper
    google_play
    app_store
    Already a subscriber? Click the image to view the latest e-edition.
    Don't have a subscription? Click here to see our subscription options.
    Mobile App

    Download Now

    The Bradford Era mobile app brings you the latest local breaking news, updates, and more. Read the Bradford Era on your mobile device just as it appears in print.

    ePaper
    google_play
    app_store
    Trending Recipes

    Help Our Community

    Please help local businesses by taking an online survey to help us navigate through these unprecedented times. None of the responses will be shared or used for any other purpose except to better serve our community. The survey is at: www.pulsepoll.com $1,000 is being awarded. Everyone completing the survey will be able to enter a contest to Win as our way of saying, "Thank You" for your time. Thank You!

    Get in touch with The Bradford Era
    Submit Content
    • Submit News
    • Letter to the Editor
    • Place Wedding Announcement
      • Submit News
      • Letter to the Editor
      • Place Wedding Announcement
    Advertise
    • Place Birth Announcement
    • Place Anniversary Announcement
    • Place Obituary Call (814) 368-3173
      • Place Birth Announcement
      • Place Anniversary Announcement
      • Place Obituary Call (814) 368-3173
    Subscribe
    • Start a Subscription
    • e-Edition
    • Contact Us
      • Start a Subscription
      • e-Edition
      • Contact Us
    CMG | Community Media Group
    Illinois
    • Hancock Journal-Pilot
    • Iroquois Times-Republic
    • Journal-Republican
    • The News-Gazette
      • Hancock Journal-Pilot
      • Iroquois Times-Republic
      • Journal-Republican
      • The News-Gazette
    Indiana
    • Fountain Co. Neighbor
    • Herald Journal
    • KV Post News
    • Newton Co. Enterprise
    • Rensselaer Republican
    • Review-Republican
      • Fountain Co. Neighbor
      • Herald Journal
      • KV Post News
      • Newton Co. Enterprise
      • Rensselaer Republican
      • Review-Republican
    Iowa
    • Atlantic News Telegraph
    • Audubon Advocate-Journal
    • Barr’s Post Card News
    • Burlington Hawk Eye
    • Collector’s Journal
    • Fayette County Union
    • Ft. Madison Daily Democrat
    • Independence Bulletin-Journal
    • Keokuk Daily Gate City
    • Oelwein Daily Register
    • Vinton Newspapers
    • Waverly Newspapers
      • Atlantic News Telegraph
      • Audubon Advocate-Journal
      • Barr’s Post Card News
      • Burlington Hawk Eye
      • Collector’s Journal
      • Fayette County Union
      • Ft. Madison Daily Democrat
      • Independence Bulletin-Journal
      • Keokuk Daily Gate City
      • Oelwein Daily Register
      • Vinton Newspapers
      • Waverly Newspapers
    Michigan
    • Iosco County News-Herald
    • Ludington Daily News
    • Oceana’s Herald-Journal
    • Oscoda Press
    • White Lake Beacon
      • Iosco County News-Herald
      • Ludington Daily News
      • Oceana’s Herald-Journal
      • Oscoda Press
      • White Lake Beacon
    New York
    • Finger Lakes Times
    • Olean Times Herald
    • Salamanca Press
      • Finger Lakes Times
      • Olean Times Herald
      • Salamanca Press
    Pennsylvania
    • Bradford Era
    • Clearfield Progress
    • Courier Express
    • Free Press Courier
    • Jeffersonian Democrat
    • Leader Vindicator
    • Potter Leader-Enterprise
    • The Wellsboro Gazette
      • Bradford Era
      • Clearfield Progress
      • Courier Express
      • Free Press Courier
      • Jeffersonian Democrat
      • Leader Vindicator
      • Potter Leader-Enterprise
      • The Wellsboro Gazette
    © Copyright The Bradford Era 43 Main St, Bradford, PA  | Terms of Use  | Privacy Policy
    Powered by TECNAVIA