The United States has rejected the setting a firm target for cutting greenhouse gas emissions at the Bali Climate Change Conference. According to reports Senior U.S. climate negotiator, Harlan Watson, says Washington firmly rejects mandatory targets. "Our principle difficulty with having any numbers in the text to begin with [is] it might prejudge outcomes," said Watson. "We are looking for text, I think it is going to be short, to the point, that is going to be balanced, taking into consideration the needs of all parties - and also a text that does not, again, prejudge outcomes that might occur at the end of a two-year negotiating process."
Canada and Japan have also made it clear they oppose Kyoto-like targets. Su Wei, a senior Chinese delegate at the Bali negotiations, said Canada and Japan are emerging as the most uncooperative nations at the climate talks. In an interview with the Financial Times on the weekend, the Chinese negotiator said Canada was particularly uncooperative in its opposition to binding commitments to force industrialized nations to cut their emissions.
Yvo de Boer, head of the United Nations climate-change agency, said Canada seems to be hypocritical in what it demands from other countries. "I personally find it interesting to hear Canada just a little while ago indicating it would not meet its commitments under the Kyoto protocol and now calling on developing countries to take binding reduction targets," he told a press conference today at the Bali climate-change conference. "So I wonder how that's going to be received," he added.
