Climate talks to fail without tough CO2 goals: U.N. - Reuters

[Eugene]

Source: Reuters

Climate talks to fail without tough CO2 goals: U.N.
Tue Dec 9, 2008 4:21pm EST

By Alister Doyle and Anna Mudeva

POZNAN, Poland (Reuters) - The United States and
other rich nations must pledge by the end of next
year specific targets for cutting greenhouse gas
emissions by 2020 to win agreement on a U.N. climate
pact, the U.N.'s top climate official said on Tuesday.

Some analysts say that President-elect Barack Obama
may not be ready to set formal emissions targets for
2020 within a year, and that economic recession could
delay an end-2009 deadline by 190 nations for
agreement on a new U.N. global warming pact.

"We have to have numbers on the table from
industrialized countries (by the end of 2009) otherwise
the other dominoes won't fall," Yvo de Boer, head of
the U.N. Climate Change Secretariat said during
December 1-12 talks on global warming.

Poor nations such as China and India would not sign
up for more action to slow their rising emissions,
mainly from burning fossil fuels, without leadership
from the rich, he told a news conference during U.N.
talks of 11,000 delegates in Poznan.

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Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUSTRE4B519W20081209