Developing nations stage walkout over Copenhagen stalemate

Ben Webster, Environment Editor in Copenhagen

The UN climate negotiations were suspended this morning after developing countries staged a walk-out in protest over lack of progress on their key demand for legally binding emissions targets from rich nations.
With only four days remaining before world leaders are due to sign a deal in Copenhagen, the protest is an ominous sign that the summit is going to fail to deliver a robust agreement.
The talks resumed after a five-hour delay but there is now much more distrust between rich and poor countries than there was at the start of the two-week meeting.
A source close to the UN secretariat running the talks said: “We have already lost half a day and we can’t afford that at this stage.

“The big fear is that we end up with nothing firm emerging from Copenhagen from either of the negotiating tracks.”
The developing countries forced the suspension of this morning’s negotiations after claiming that their concerns were not being given sufficient priority.
After a previous walkout at climate talks in Barcelona last month, developing countries secured an agreement that more time would be spent discussing rich countries' legal commitments under the Kyoto Protocol than other issues.
Developing countries want to maintain the Kyoto Protocol because it is the only legal instrument which requires rich countries to make emissions cuts. They fear that it will be replaced by a much weaker agreement under which rich countries would only make voluntary pledges on emissions and would not be held to account for failing to meet them.
The US, the EU, Japan and Russia, among other developed countries, say that the Kyoto Protocol needs to be revised because it does not place any obligation on developing countries to cut their emissions.
Under current trends, more than 90 per cent of the future growth in emissions will come from developing countries.
The first round of commitments on emissions under the Kyoto Protocol cover a period ending at the end of 2012. Poorer nations are seeking a new seven-year commitment period starting in January 2013.
There are two sets of talks, one concerning the Kyoto Protocol and a separate track set up to accommodate the US, which rejected the Protocol.

This morning’s walkout was led by African countries, with the support of the G77 group of developing countries.
Jeremy Hobbs, executive director of Oxfam International, said that the walkout had succeeded in focusing attention on the central issue which needed to be dealt before world leaders gathered on Friday.
He said: "Africa has pulled the emergency cord to avoid a train crash at the end of the week.
"Poor countries want to see an outcome which guarantees sharp emissions reductions, yet rich countries are trying to delay discussions on the only mechanism we have to deliver this — the Kyoto Protocol.

"This not about blocking the talks — it is about whether rich countries are ready to guarantee action on climate change and the survival of people in Africa and across the world."
Andy Atkins, executive director of Friends of the Earth, said: "The African countries' protest highlights the dirty tactics of rich countries who are trying to stitch up negotiations to their benefit.
"We support the African countries' demands that rich countries must commit to binding targets to cut their emissions by at least 40 per cent by 2020.
"Wealthy nations are trying to push for a deal which will leave millions of people in the developing world to face the worst effects of catastrophic climate change.
"The informal consultations which the Danish presidency has organised at the climate talks between rich countries are underhand and undermine negotiations by excluding most developing countries.”
Mr Atkins said that the summit’s Danish presidency had today proposed "President's informal consultations" which appeared to be an attempt to collapse the two negotiating tracks in Copenhagen and abolish the Kyoto Protocol.
The walkout delivered another blow to the summit which has already been marred by growing tension, and trading of insults, between China and the United States.
Douglas Alexander, the International Development secretary, criticised the walkout.
He said: “Time is now against us in Copenhagen and we need leadership, not brinkmanship, to secure a deal to save the planet.
"Today's temporary suspension reminds us all of the real risk of failure. We need all countries around the negotiating table at all times to make progress.
“These negotiations must not descend into a battle between rich and poor."