U.S. Says GHG Emissions to Rise 4 Percent Through 2020

The U.S., in its first climate report in four years to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, said its GHG emissions were expected to grow by 4 percent through 2020, in part due to growth in the use of hydrofluorocarbons, the Associated Press reported. The State Department wrote in the report: "A large portion of emissions growth is driven by HFCs, which are projected to more than double between 2005 and 2020, as they are more extensively used as a substitute for ozone-depleting substances."

Samuel LaBudde, atmospheric campaign director for the Environmental Investigation Agency, was quoted as saying: "Unless they are eliminated, HFCs and fluorinated gases will sabotage efforts to combat global warming. We could and should use the Montreal Protocol to phase them out."

The report said the U.S. would contribute "its share to developed country financing approaching $30 billion for 2010-2012," in keeping with the deal President Obama negotiated with China and other developing countries at the December climate summit in Copenhagen. The Obama administration's budget would provide more than $2 billion for climate research, said the report.

De Boer Pessimistic About Cancun Climate Negotiations

Outgoing U.N. climate change head Yvo de Boer said he expected the Cancun climate change talks in December to fail to produce an agreement on GHG emissions cuts, the Associated Press reported. De Boer declared that "a good outcome of Cancun will be an operational architecture on climate change. And then we can decide on a treaty." He added that Cancun was unlikely to provide "enough of an answer" to ensure a 25-percent-to-40-percent cut in 1990 GHG emissions levels by 2020 in industrialized nations. De Boer said those nations needed to provide developing nations with more assurance about the formation of a $100-billion annual financial aid fund.

Reuters reported that in speaking to environment ministers holding informal climate talks in Germany, de Boer said they must take the "thorny topic" of developing a successor to the Kyoto Protocol by the horns: "A significant number of countries are saying that perhaps Cancun can do the groundwork: Cancun can adopt a series of decisions that can make climate action operational, but that turning that into treaty text would take more time." U.S. climate envoy Todd Stern said his country sought "solid, pragmatic progress" toward a climate treaty at the Germany talks. However, Stern said the U.S. was seeking a symmetrical treaty that included China, India and others, the Irish Times reported.

Leaders From 45 Countries Meet in Bonn for Interim Climate Talks

At the beginning of a three-day international climate change conference in Bonn, hosts Germany and Mexico called on world leaders from 45 countries to refocus climate negotiations in order to get an agreement by the end of the year when negotiators meet in Cancun, Mexico, the Associated Press reported.

German Environment Minister Norbert Roettgen was quoted as saying: "We want to pave the way to a good result in Cancun," he said, adding that "nobody wants another big disappointment," referring to the U.N. international climate talks in Copenhagen last December. "The meeting will focus on six broad issues -- long-term goal, mitigation and measurement, reporting, verification (MRV), adaptation, finance, technology co-operation and reducing emissions from deforestation plus (REDD plus)," wrote the Economic Times.

Mexican President Felipe Calderon was quoting as saying: "We need to show the world how serious the threat is." German Chancellor Angela Merkel said: "We have to realize that we have quite a long way to go to reach the 2-degree-goal. Therefore we have to ascertain how we can reach our goals nonetheless." Roettgen said this interim meeting, the Petersberg Climate Dialogue, was designed to address some difficult issues and to build trust between poor and rich nations. AFP quoted Merkel as saying: "A preparatory job before Cancun will be to find a basis of trust for all countries that will be present in Cancun so that no one feels left out."

Roettgen called on the European Union to raise its goal for reducing GHGs from 20 percent to 30 percent by 2020, measured against emissions in 1990, AFP reported. Roettgen was quoted as saying: "The EU has good reasons, including economic ones, to rethink its current reduction offer." Switzerland's top climate negotiator, Jose Romero, was quoted as saying: "The EU has to push to 30 percent to create confidence -- it's one way to create credibility with the developed countries," AFP reported.