Copenhagen climate talks collapse

The climate change conference collapsed on Saturday without a consensus although United States had brokered a political deal with India and three other emerging economies over non-legally-binding emission cuts which was rejected by an overwhelming number of developing nations calling it one-sided and 'suicidal.'

As consensus for an ambitious deal to tackle climate change eluded the 12-day Conference of Parties in Copenhagen, US President Barack Obama pushed for a pact during parleys that went down to the wire.

He put in a surprise appearance at a meeting of BASIC leaders involving Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao and those constituting the bloc of Brazil, South Africa, India and China.

Early on Saturday morning capping 12 days of frenetic and sometimes dramatic discussions, Danish Prime Minister Lars Rasmuessen frankly admitted there was no consensus and the deal cannot be adopted.

"If we strictly stick to the principle of consensus, this (the US-BASIC accord) cannot be adopted. I really regret it for this reason that we cannot adopt this document," he said.

"It is true that this document cannot be put into operational effect. It is true but it is a reality," he said. Singh and Obama delayed their departures by several hours to hammer out a face-saving deal that asks both developed and developing nations to set their emission targets by February 2010.

The US-BASIC accord, taken as a final conference draft, contained elements like limiting temperature rise to 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, peaking of global and national emissions as soon as possible, factoring in overriding priorities of poverty for developing nations.

It calls on industrialised nations to set their emission targets by February, 2010 and also asks the developing countries to do the same.

In the contentious area of Monitoring, Verification and Reporting, it provides that unsupported actions could be subject to assessment only by domestic institutions, but adds a new provision for international consultations and analysis without impinging on national sovereignty.

On the finance side, it provides $ 100 billion for long-term funding for developing countries and $ 30 billion for short-term, which would go to the poorest and most vulnerable.

Many of the African and Latin American countries attacked the document, saying it was not acceptable. Sudanese delegate Lumumba Stanislas Dia-ping, who chaired the Group of 77 and the bloc of 130 poor nations, compared it to Holocaust.

"It is a solution based on values, the very opinion that funneled six million people in Europe into furnaces," he said. Calling the draft deal the worst in the history of climate negotiations, he said that it asked Africa to sign a 'suicide pact, an incineration pact, in order to maintain the economic dominance of a few countries.'

The tense negotiations at one stage saw Britain, France and Australia expressing reservations on the Indian position relating to emission cuts, mitigation targets and finance.

"I think in the meeting that we had, unfortunately the French President (Nicolas Sarkozy) and British Prime Minister (Gordon Brown), many of them did not seem appreciative of India's point of view. ... Either they were not properly briefed or they chose deliberately to be oblivious of what we are doing," Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh said after the meeting.

"I tried my best, a couple of moments there were some sharp exchanges between me and President Sarkozy. But I must say Chancellor (Angela) Merkel (of Germany) was very supportive of India, President Obama was very supportive of India," Ramesh added.

But, the Indian side did have some problem with Brown and Sarkozy and also twice with Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, Ramesh said.

However, he said, after the meeting these leaders stated that they respected Singh and knew what a 'great Prime Minister he is and what good job India is doing.'

Besides Sudan, several countries including Venezuela and Bolivia rejected the document saying it lacked targets for reducing carbon emissions.

The three-page deal promised $ 30 billion in emergency aid to vulnerable countries in the next three years and set a goal of $ 100 billion by 2020 to developing nations with no guarantees.

During the meeting, Singh said that there was no question of making India's unilateral commitments internationally legally binding.

"We will reflect them in an international agreement in a suitable way but we are not going to take any internationally legally binding commitments. That is simply not on the cards," Ramesh quoted Singh as saying, adding that Obama appreciated Singh's statement.

At the 194-nation United Nations climate conference, delegates from Tuvalu suggested that rich countries wanted to buy the poor nations' vote by promises of aid.

"For 30 pieces of silver we cannot betray our own people. Our future is not for sale," they said.

Bolivia said that giving parties one hour to decide on the US-BASIC deal was 'disrespectful' and that it ignored two years of work on the Kyoto Protocol and the Bali Action Plan.

Nicaragua said the process of forging the draft, which was led by the US, lacked 'legitimacy', 'transparency,' and 'democratic participation.'

The agreement could only be arrived 'at open, transparent and legitimate process and adopted by consensus in the working group,' its delegate said, while placing two proposals in front of all delegates to suspend COP 15 meet in Copenhagen and pursue work under the Kyoto Protocol and Bali Action Plan expeditiously in future meetings.

"This (US-BASIC) document cannot be accepted for adoption by the parties present here," said delegates from Costa Rica, adding that there was an absence of a legally-binding treaty.