Buoyed by China deal, Obama Seeks World Climate Pact
A Sino-U.S. breakthrough on curbing carbon emissions proves a global deal on climate change is achievable, U.S. President Barack Obama said Saturday, as campaigners hailed new momentum in long-stalled talks.
Announcing a $3 billion contribution to a U.N.-backed climate change mitigation fund, Obama said the China-U.S. deal unveiled earlier this week showed the way forward.
"If China and the U.S. can agree on this, then the world can agree on this -- we can get this done," he said in a speech on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Brisbane.
The U.N. and green campaigners welcomed Obama's funding pledge, saying it confirmed global warming is now central to the political agenda following the surprise deal between Washington and Beijing to reduce their greenhouse emissions.
Climate experts conceded that Republican opposition meant Obama could struggle to fulfil his $3 billion commitment, but said he was fueling momentum for change in an area where talks have faltered since the historic Kyoto Protocol of 1997.
"You can sense the energy lifting in this critical conversation across the planet -- the game has changed," Greenpeace Australia chief executive David Ritter told AFP.
"A global deal has become more likely, no question. Climate is now front and center for the U.S., it's front and center for China, that means it's front and center for all of us."
Obama outlined his pledge to the Green Climate Fund (GCF) in a speech at the University of Queensland, telling the audience he wanted to ensure his grandchildren could visit Australia's famed Great Barrier Reef "50 years from now".
He said the fund would help developing nations cope with climate-related issues such as rising seas while also backing environmentally friendly infrastructure projects.
"(It will) let them leapfrog some of the dirty industries that powered our development and go straight to a clean-energy economy," he said.
Obama's announcement stymied efforts by G20 host Tony Abbott -- who questions the science of man-made climate change -- to reduce the issue to the margins of the Brisbane summit.
Despite Prime Minister Abbott's reluctance, climate change appears set to be mentioned in the G20 leaders' final communique on Sunday, a concession to U.S. and European pressure that was described as a "victory" by a French diplomatic source.
World Vision chief Tim Costello said Abbott was "like King Canute, trying to send back the tide of climate change when other leaders are saying this has to be discussed".
U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon described climate change as "the defining issue of our times" and used the Brisbane meeting to call on other G20 leaders to contribute to the GCF, which will hold a donors' meeting in Berlin on November 20.
"The transition towards a low-carbon, climate-resilient future is accelerating," said Ban, who will host talks in Paris in December next year aimed at reaching a global agreement to succeed Kyoto.
"I urge other leaders and major economies, especially at the G20, to come forward with contributions that will sustain this momentum."
The GCF is designed to help poorer countries invest in green technologies and build up their defenses against rising sea levels and increasingly extreme weather patterns.
"To see the US put $3 billion into the fund is further evidence that they're determined to see a global deal done by next year," said Tim Flannery of the Sydney-based Climate Council.
"It's a clear message to the world that the U.S. has moved on this issue and it expects the rest of the world to move."
France and Germany have already pledged $1 billion each, with Japan reportedly set to announce a $1.5 billion donation this weekend in Brisbane.
U.N. climate chief Christiana Figueres has called for an initial capitalization of $10 billion by the end of the year.
But Republican James Inhofe, regarded as the chief climate change sceptic in the U.S. Congress, signaled he would fight to block the GCF funds, following recent mid-term elections which left the president staring at lame-duck status in his final two years.
"President Obama’s pledge to give unelected bureaucrats at the U.N. $3 billion for climate change initiatives is an unfortunate decision to not listen to voters in this most recent election cycle," Senator Inhofe said.
Source: Agence France Presse
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