Concessions by the U.S. on contributions to a $100-billion annual climate mitigation fund and by China on possibly agreeing to external monitoring of its GHG emissions were seen as opening the way to an agreement at Copenhagen, the Wall Street Journal reported today. Obama administration sources said the fund "would be put up by private companies and investors, not taxpayers," wrote the Journal.
European sources said leaders were in talks on emissions targets for now, with an eye toward reaching a legally binding agreement in Mexico City in November 2010. One source said leaders had agreed on a draft deal and "the idea is to have a political accord as soon as possible, but it's going to be tough," the Sydney Morning Herald reported today. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's announcement of the climate funding plan was met with general approval, although she also reiterated that the U.S. will not move from its goal of cutting 2005 GHG emissions 17 percent by 2020. Clinton tied the funding to "transparency" from China.
Chinese Vice Foreign Minister He Yafei said his country might agree to voluntary "international exchanges" of its emissions data, as well as "dialogue and cooperation that is not intrusive, that does not infringe on China's sovereignty." A U.S. official was quoted as saying: "We're making progress on all of our outstanding issues with the Chinese. We have a good dialogue going and there are other parties as well. There's still a way to go on all the issues and there's not much time left, so we certainly can't predict at this point what the outcome of the conference will be."
- Related stories also appeared in Los Angeles (Calif.) Times (U.S., China), Los Angeles (Calif.) Times (Climate negotiators), New ork Times (Obama), New York Times (At climate talks), Straits Times (Singapore), Sydney Morning Herald (Australia), Wall Street Journal (Showdown), Wall Street Journal (Plan), Washington Post (U.S. Pledges), Washington Post (Five questions), Associated Press (U.S. offer), Associated Press (Obama), Bloomberg, Reuters (Obama), Reuters (Leaders meet), WSJ.com (U.S. Proposal).
