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Nicaragua refuses to make carbon-cutting pledge
by Staff Writers
Le Bourget, France (AFP) Dec 1, 2015


Don't be fooled by climate rhetoric: Greenpeace chief
Le Bourget, France (AFP) Dec 1, 2015 - Soaring rhetoric from US President Barack Obama and other leaders about their deep commitment to fighting climate change should be taken with a hefty pinch of salt, Greenpeace chief Kumi Naidoo said Tuesday.

At a landmark UN summit in Paris on Monday, Obama led a chorus of pledges about the urgent need to contain global warming and prevent its most catastrophic impacts.

The summit of more than 150 leaders, the biggest-ever gathering of heads of state and government, sought to inject energy into the start of the conference, which is seeking an unprecedented post-2020 climate pact.

But Naidoo, executive director of the influential environment activist group, cautioned against believing the messages of "hope" and "urgent action" promoted by Obama and others.

"We heard political language from many leaders that we had not heard before. We welcome that. The tone of urgency was there, which has been lacking for quite some time," Naidoo told AFP on the sidelines of the Paris conference.

"However people watching this have to be very, very careful about judging whether this is simply hot air from our politicians, or is backed up by real intentions in the coming years."

Naidoo contrasted Obama's rhetoric about mankind being in grave danger from global warming with US policies to continue subsidising the burning of fossil fuels that are the main climate change culprit.

"We know that the United States, for example, is the best democracy money can buy. And if you unpack what money buys that influence, it is disproportionately oil, coal, gas and other polluting industries," he said.

"So the question for the political leadership of these countries is whether they will finally put the interests of ordinary people and their citizens ahead the interests of the powerful fossil-fuel lobbies in their countries."

Naidoo also cautioned against believing that the goal of keeping global warming to two degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) above pre-Industrial Revolution -- a target backed by the United States, China and other big polluters -- would keep vulnerable countries safe.

Leaders of low-lying island nations and poor African countries are pushing for a Paris accord to enshrine a target of 1.5 C, which would require high-emitting countries to cut down on fossil fuels much more quickly.

"The debate between 1.5 versus 2 degrees: Now this may just sound like a number. But to put it in a context, the people in the Pacific (islands) are chanting a slogan these days: '1.5 to stay alive'," Naidoo said.

"Because basically if we go above 1.5, we are talking about dangerous climate change."

The UN conference, involving 195 nations, is aiming to end on December 11 with a global climate change pact.

But divisions between rich and poor nations, as well as entrenched dependence on coal, gas and oil in many countries, mean a pact is far from assured.

Nicaragua said Tuesday it would not make a pledge to fight global warming as part of the Paris climate talks, arguing that to do so would let rich countries off the hook.

It was the first outright refusal among the 195 nations attending the negotiations, which aim to craft a global pact to cut climate-harming carbon emissions.

"We are not going to present a 'national contribution' on a voluntary basis because it would kill the concept of historic responsibility" of large polluters, Paul Oquist, head of the Nicaraguan delegation, told AFP.

He said five other countries -- Venezuela, Bolivia, Argentina, El Salvador and India -- shared his view on the question of responsibility being placed on nations that historically emitted the most pollution.

"You have to affect these large emitters and they are those who are historically responsible," said Oquist. "We're not trying to shirk our role, but we're not going to participate and become accomplices."

So far, 183 nations have put forth voluntary plans to cut their emissions, which will be the basis for the hoped-for post-2020 agreement in Paris.

Oquist, who first revealed Nicaragua's position to a climate news service on Monday, said the UN should instead set quotas for nations based on the quantities of greenhouse gases emitted since the start of the Industrial Revolution.

Rich countries acknowledge their responsibility in today's warming.

But they note developing countries now account for the majority of greenhouse-gas emissions today, thanks to a surge of economic growth in emerging giants over the last decade or so.

Those emissions will be the main cause of warming tomorrow, which scientists say could be catastrophic on current trends, according to this argument.

Divided Belgium fails to agree climate targets
Brussels (AFP) Dec 1, 2015 - When the Belgian government said recently it was hoping for a climate deal it wasn't talking about the UN talks in Paris -- it was talking about its own troubles.

Arguments between the French and Flemish speaking regions of an increasingly divided country meant Prime Minister Charles Michel went to Paris without any agreement.

They are split over how much each region -- the poorer French-speaking Wallonia and the richer Flemish-speaking Flanders -- should make to meet Belgium's commitments.

"This doesn't give a good image of Belgium," deputy prime minister Kris Peeters, a Flemish lawmaker, told VRT radio on Tuesday.

He added that a deal was possible "if everyone shows goodwill."

Michel said as he arrived in Paris that Belgium would pay 50 million euros a year in climate aid to developing countries until 2020.

Belgium is also committed to reduce its emissions by 15 percent by 2020 compared to 2005 and to make 13 percent of its energy from renewables.

But local media and activists have criticised Belgium for failing to reach an agreement within Belgium itself -- a country which already has four environment ministers for Brussels, Wallonia, Flanders, and the federal government.

They have still not agreed on a breakdown of costs for the adoption of the measures that Belgium has promised, or of how to share the proceeds of carbon quotas.

French-speaking lawmakers have accused the Flemish nationalist N-VA party of "playing politics", after a deal accepted by Wallonia and Brussels was knocked back by Flanders.

Belgian authorities have recently faced criticism in the wake of the Paris attacks for a lack of coordination in security issues.

Belgium is a relatively modern invention, born in 1830 as an independent state to act as a buffer between France and Germany.

It is now an uneasy mix of a Flemish-speaking, more conservative north and a French-speaking, poorer left-leaning south with a small German-speaking population near the border.


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