Earth Equity News

Climate Talks Coming up in Ghana. By Alister Doyle, Reuters, August 19, 2008. "Developed nations can work on details of a new climate pact to succeed the Kyoto Protocol at August 21-27 talks in Accra [Ghana] despite uncertainty about U.S. policies, said Harald Dovland, a Norwegian… who chairs meetings among Kyoto backers. 'Many of the developed industrialized countries are not very keen on coming forward with strong commitments post-2012 without knowing what the U.S. is doing,' he [said]. '[But] we could do some practical good work at this stage'… More than 190 nations agreed last year to work out a new… treaty by the end of 2009… Dovland noted that the 37 countries which have emissions limits under Kyoto agreed last year to be guided in negotiations by a non-binding goal of… between 25 and 40% [cuts] by 2020 below 1990 levels… He said that he hoped to return to the issue of overall cuts at a… meeting [in Poland in December]... 'My hope is to see if we can make it a little more binding,' he said… A separate group is looking at goals for outsiders, including the U.S…. China and India. The Ghana talks are the third so far this year… [Dovland also] said he hoped that Accra could make progress on new rules for [a carbon trading scheme for developing countries in which both]… the forestry … [and] nuclear power [sectors are included]."