U.S. Proposal Gets Cautious Welcome

By SPENCER SWARTZ, GUY CHAZAN and JING YANG
COPENHAGEN -- World leaders gave a cautious welcome to the U.S.'s new proposal to rescue flagging climate-change talks, but warned that many details of the plan must still come into focus -- including how much the U.S. would contribute.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Thursday proposed that major economies including the U.S. come up with $100 billion a year over the next decade for developing nations to fight climate change.
"It's an important development and very welcome to have the United States on the same page as the U.K. and the EU in terms of long-term climate finance," a U.K. government spokesman said.
A much more cautious note was sounded by one of the most crucial players in Copenhagen: China. "We hold a conservative view on Clinton's climate fund proposal due to lack of clarity on many issues," said a spokesman for the Chinese delegation.
Mrs. Clinton didn't say for example how much of public funds will account for the annual $100 billion and how much of it will come from the U.S, the official said. "At first glance, we don't see the U.S has made much progress in its commitments," he said.
Echoing China, Jairam Ramesh, India's environment minister, said $100 billion a year would "never be enough, but was a start" for further discussion. "One good thing has happened today: the negotiations on the two tracks have resumed," he told journalists, adding that India put a high value on preserving the Kyoto Protocol rather than shifting to a new international accord.
The U.S. plan received a more positive initial reaction from some parts of the world that would benefit from the additional funding. "It's more of the financial commitment we have been looking for, but we'll need to see the mechanism for how this will work," said Mamadou Honadia, a delegate from the small West African state of Burkina Faso.
Enock Teye Mensah, a Ghanian native and a delegate of the pan-African parliament, said he believed the U.S. proposal "removed about 90% of the obstacle to a deal."
The UN's top climate-change diplomat Yvo de Boer said the fact that long-term finance was now on the agenda was a strong signal, but said it remained to be seen if $100 billion a year over ten years would be adequate. "The discussion will have to take place with other parties on whether that money is adequate," he said.
Besides the money issue, the Kyoto Protocol also remains an obstacle. Developing nations still want a U.S. commitment to making the protocol a foundation to any new agreement in Copenhagen. Mrs. Clinton didn't address the issue with journalists. The existing Kyoto Protocol imposes obligations to reduce carbon-dioxide emissions only on rich countries. The U.S. isn't legally obligated to implement the Kyoto accord because the U.S. Senate didn't ratify it.
Mrs. Clinton's announcement also drew criticism from the senior Republican on the House Energy and Commerce Committee, Rep. Joe Barton of Texas. In a written statement, Mr. Barton, an opponent of emissions caps who has questioned whether human activity is the main cause of climate change, described the U.S. offer as a "Christmas present" that would come at some expense to U.S. taxpayers.
"I guess when you're this close to the North Pole this time of year, the spirit of giving takes over," Mr. Barton said. "But nobody back home -- the ones who pay our bills -- has told me that they've asked Santa for lower living standards this Christmas so Third World diplomats could be happy in Copenhagen."—Selina Williams contributed to this article.