EDF Welcomes Shift in Tone as U.S. Returns to Bonn Talks

Andrea Welsh, 011-202-297-7723, awelsh@edf.org

 

(Bonn, Germany – April 8, 2009)  The debut of the Obama administration’s negotiating team brought a welcome tone of seriousness to climate talks ending here today, but delegates must return in June with concrete proposals to allow for a new global deal in 2009, U.S. NGO Environmental Defense Fund said on Wednesday.

 

“The new U.S. climate envoy brought a gust of fresh air to the talks, when he declared in  the opening plenary that the United States is 100 percent committed to reaching a global deal,” said Jennifer Haverkamp, EDF’s international climate policy managing director.

 

“Now what we’re seeing is nations getting very serious very fast; negotiators are putting their real concerns on the table and engaging in earnest about what they need to sign a deal in December. By June we expect the U.S. to follow its welcome words with concrete proposals and positions.”

 

Reflecting the sense of urgency to complete a deal in 2009, negotiators agreed in Bonn to add two additional sessions before the December climate summit in Copenhagen, where they expect to sign a new global agreement.

 

EDF’s international counsel Annie Petsonk noted there are still substantial differences in positions to resolve and big decisions to be made before governments can strike a deal ambitious enough to avoid dangerous global warming.

 

“Resolving the many and large outstanding differences among countries will require homework and also some flexibility,” said Petsonk. “Negotiators absolutely must go home and develop concrete proposals so when they return to Bonn in June they are prepared to make some decisions. Otherwise we could run out of time before Copenhagen.”

 

There is no longer any question that global climate regulations are coming,” Petsonk added. “The Obama administration has called a meeting of 16 major economies in April to consider how heads of state can support U.N. climate negotiators. Now is the time for negotiators to show the world they have the knowledge and the commitment to get this job done.”

 

Petsonk said she was encouraged by some concrete developments seen during the two-week Bonn climate session. Delegates from dozens of nations stood up to insist that reducing emissions from deforestation in developing countries (“REDD”) have a central place at Copenhagen, sharply increasing the pressure to include forests in the next global climate deal.

 

And in the United States, Representative Henry Waxman last week submitted draft legislation to cap U.S. greenhouse gas emissions, showing that the U.S. Congress is serious about supporting President Obama’s call to action on climate.

 

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