The EU is pushing other countries to accept a final compromise deal at the UN climate talks. Delegates in Bonn have been trying to reach agreement on implementing the UN Kyoto Treaty on global warming. The compromise proposal was announced early this morning.
However, Australia, Canada and Japan have said that they might not accept it. The Dutch Prime Minister, who is chairing the talks, said that they may be extended into tomorrow in an effort to reach an agreement.
EU chief negotiator Olivier Deleuze said that the document was not ideal. He added, however, that if all parties were willing to follow its conditions then the EU would also agree. The United States has already rejected the original 1997 Kyoto protocol, which aims to reduce the emission of greenhouse gases.
Concessions offered on forests and agricultural land at the climate talks would mean that the Kyoto protocol would fall nearly two-thirds short of its target for trimming emissions, the Worldwide Fund for Nature (WWF) said today. Kyoto's target is a cut of 5.2% in global emissions of these carbon-rich gases by 2008-2012 compared with the level that stood in 1990. The compromise would lead to a cut of just 1.8%, the WWF has calculated.
