Durban Climate Talks: Much at Stake, Race Against Clock

Expecting Real Fairness

Would there be any progress at the Durban conference in resolving the two thorny issues? Recent remarks by officials from developed countries suggested the outcome might be gloomy.

Todd D. Stern, US special envoy for climate change, said Tuesday that the Kyoto Protocol was not up for discussion for the US at the Durban conference.

Meanwhile, Japanese Environment Minister Hosono Goshi last month reiterated his country's opposition to extending the Kyoto Protocol and proposed a new global framework Tokyo says all "major emitters" should join.

The European Union, which has backed the extension, is making subtle changes to its position. At a meeting of the Environment Council in October, the bloc said it would commit to a new phase of the Kyoto climate change pact, but with conditions.

While prospects for extending the protocol appear uncertain, the Kyoto Protocol itself and the UNFCCC, the international legal framework and multilateral negotiation mechanism to tackle climate change, might all be at risk, too.

Take Japan and the EU for example. Japan is about to raise a "bilateral emission offset" agreement at the upcoming Durban talks, while the EU has already unilaterally levied a carbon emissions tax on all planes landing or taking off within its borders.

Fairness has always been an excuse used by developed countries to shirk their responsibilities. They seem to wait to see all the "major emitters" meet their emissions reduction targets first, before they are willing to take on their own responsibilities.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon earlier this month stressed that the forthcoming Durban talks should implement the consensus reached at the Cancun conference.

"It is an imperative which we have to do in all the circumstances...We cannot ask the poorest and the most vulnerable to bear the cost," Ban said.

Whether the Durban conference could achieve new progress in efforts to solving those problems would depend on the willingness of the developed countries to adopt the true fair principle of "common but differentiated responsibilities" and take practical actions with sincerity.