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Discord at Bali Climate Conference

EU Threatens to Boycott US Climate Talks

By Markus Becker in Bali, Indonesia

With only one more day to go, the tone at the UN climate conference on Bali has taken a decidedly sour turn. The European Union has threatened to boycott US-led climate change talks unless the US agrees to concrete targets for reductions in greenhouse gas emissions.

With just one more day to go, the prospects of participants reaching consensus at the UN Climate Change Conference in Bali are looking increasingly shaky after the European Union threatened to boycott US-led climate change talks.

Germany's Environment Minister Sigmar Gabriel said Thursday that the EU states might stay away from the Major Economies Meeting in Hawaii in January if the climate conference on Bali doesn't produce concrete results. The Bali conference, which ends Friday, has brought over 180 nations together to discuss how to proceed with climate protection after the Kyoto Protocol climate change agreement expires in 2012.

"No result in Bali means no Major Economies Meeting," said Gabriel. "This is the clear position of the EU. I do not know what we should talk about if there is no target." Gabriel was referring to a series of meetings involving separate climate talks that US President George W. Bush announced in May 2007. The first Major Economies Meeting was held in September.

The Portuguese environment minister, Humberto Rosa, played down talk of a boycott. "We're not blackmailing (anyone)," he told journalists. However, he reiterated Gabriel's position that the January meeting could be a waste of time. "If we would have a failure in Bali it would be meaningless to have a Major Economies Meeting," he said, before succinctly summing up the EU's position: "If no Bali, no MEM."

The EU Environment Commissioner Stavros Dimas said he was "disappointed" by the way negotiations were going and said it was time for the US to reveal how it intended to lead the way in battling climate change, as Bush has claimed he wants to do.

In taking such a radical position, the EU is clearly trying to isolate the US internationally -- at least among the large industrial nations. The US is seen by many observers as trying to hinder efforts to include concrete targets for reducing greenhouse gas emissions in the conference's closing statement.

The European Union wants the industrialized countries to commit to a 25 to 40 percent reduction in emissions, compared to 1990 levels, by 2020. However, the US delegation takes the view that making such a commitment now would pre-empt negotiations, expected to take place over the next two years, to find a successor agreement to the Kyoto Protocol.

The American delegation insisted Thursday that it was trying hard to reach a deal. "The US is being open and working very constructively with the other countries that are here," said Kristin Hellmer, a White House spokeswoman in Bali, reacting to the EU comments. "We are rolling our sleeves up and really working to come up with a global post-2012 framework."

UN climate chief Yvo de Boer said he was concerned the deadlock could hinder progress. "I'm very concerned about the pace of things," he said. "If we don't get wording on the future, then the whole house of cards falls to pieces." Boer said he was worried that a final "Bali roadmap" could contain an agreement to negotiate a new climate deal by 2009 without mentioning concrete targets for cutting emissions.

Former US Vice President Al Gore also weighed in on the discussion Thursday. "My own country, the United States, is principally responsible for obstructing progress here in Bali," said Gore, who had flown to Bali from Oslo where he received the Nobel Peace Prize earlier this week for his efforts to battle climate change.

Gore encouraged participants to reach agreement even without US backing, and suggested that Bush's successor might be more supportive of binding limits. "Over the next two years, the United States is going to be somewhere it is not now," he said.

With material from AP and Reuters.