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Hague Climate Conference failure will delay action on “climate change” for years, analysts say,

Hague Climate Conference failure will delay action on “climate change” for years, analysts say

By William Maclean

THE HAGUE, Nov 25 (Reuters) - The world lost a good opportunity to fight global warming at failed U.N. climate talks on Saturday and might wait years for another chance, analysts said.

But as 180 nations surveyed the wreckage of their attempt to seal an accord at talks in The Hague, not everyone was in mourning.

"Champagne corks will be popping in the boardrooms of auto, coal and oil companies around the globe," said the U.S. Sierra Club environmental group.

"No deal is better than a bad deal," said the conservative business pressure group the Global Climate Coalition. "We are pleased that the U.S. recognised a bad deal when they saw it."

A combination of business pressure and U.S. politics will ensure it will be later rather than sooner before nations start the complex job of fighting climate change, analysts said.

"This was a window of opportunity that may not come again," said the National Environmental Trust, a green pressure group.

Experts said any resumption of talks on cleaning the planet would have to await a result in the U.S. presidential election, currently mired in a dispute over ballot counts in Florida.

If the winner turns out to be former oilman and Republican candidate George W. Bush, progress would be slow.

"Bush was suckled on oil," said environmental analyst George Monbiot, referring to the one-time business careers of the Texas governor and his father, former President George Bush.

They said the Clinton administration, while not environmentally strong in European eyes, was more sympathetic to green concerns than any Bush government was likely to be.

"This is likely to have been the European nations' best opportunity to achieve a strong climate treaty," said Philip Clapp of the U.S. National Environmental Trust. Bush was likely to push even harder to promote conservative business interests.

"It's a tragedy that they didn't give it one more push," said Alden Meyer of the U.S. Union of Concerned Scientists.

"The EU is going to face a very different negotiating partner if it's a Bush administration," he said.

But even a Gore victory offered no prospect of a quick result, as attempts by the White House to make progress on climate change perennially face strong opposition in Congress, where powerful energy and farm lobbies wield influence.

Green groups in The Hague nevertheless sought decisive action from the Clinton administration because they argue the United States has a duty to act given that it is the world's biggest polluter.

ENVIRONMENTAL DISASTER

The talks tried to agree steps to implement a pact reached in Kyoto, Japan in 1997 calling for a five percent average cut in developed nations' 1990 levels of emissions by 2010.

Scientists say gases like carbon dioxide threaten potentially disastrous effects on weather, sea levels and the spread of diseases like malaria and dengue fever.

U.S. and EU negotiators said they came very close to sealing an agreement, but in the end a row over how to bear the costs of cleaning the planet's atmosphere scuppered the talks.

Many delegates urged a resumption in coming weeks, but U.S. chief negotiator Frank Loy said that Washington stood ready to resume negotiations only at some point in the coming year, a possible reflection of disarray over the U.S. election.

"We came so close, only to see our efforts unravel," Loy said. "We didn't quite manage to push it over the goal line."

Green groups said U.S. intransigence, coupled with an EU negotiating team weakened by red tape and political infighting, deprived the conference of a historic accord.

The result was a victory for polluters and defeat for poorer nations facing devastating storms and floods, green groups said.

The United States insisted on solutions that would absolve its companies and farmers from making substantial cuts in emissions. Green groups were furious and said voters would not forget who was responsible.

"Who is to blame for this fiasco? Blame the United States and its supporters Japan, Australia and Canada who fought tooth and nail to exploit every loophole," said Friends of the Earth.

13:22 11-25-00
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