Jet, ship tax to fund climate poor: Copenhagen deal
December 16th, 2009 | by addis portal |AFRICAN nations, led by Ethiopia and backed by France and Britain, have presented a plan to break the deadlock at the Copenhagen talks by raising billions of dollars to help poor countries cope with climate change through levies on international aviation and shipping and possibly even a controversial global financial tax.
Kevin Rudd discussed the plan with Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi and British Prime Minister Gordon Brown soon after his arrival in Copenhagen. Mr Brown, along with French President Nicolas Sarkozy, is backing the Ethiopian scheme, although the financial tax proposal was last night meeting resistance from other developed countries.
A spokesman for Mr Brown said London supported the Ethiopian proposal and hoped it could “provide a way forward” for the struggling climate change talks.
British Cabinet Secretary for Climate Change Ed Miliband told The Australian that much would depend on how the Ethiopian proposal was received in Copenhagen today. “It’s important to see its reception today,” Mr Miliband said.
World Vision chief executive the Reverend Tim Costello said it was “the first serious breakthrough from the entrenched blocs and set positions”.
“This is the first time a country from the north and a country from the south have shown a way to address financing, which is a showstopper here in Copenhagen, especially if developed-nation emission-reduction commitments remain weak,” Mr Costello said.
Signs of a breakthrough came as the Australian government’s project of trying to make coal less polluting by capturing and storing its carbon emissions was dealt an expensive blow at the climate summit.
The UN conference refused to include clean coal technology in its main program for channelling money to clean fuel projects, locking carbon capture and storage out of potentially billions of dollars of funding.
The Copenhagen talks are in need of a breakthrough, with formal official-level negotiations ending in confusion and anger late yesterday when a final text was pushed through, despite objections from both the US and developing countries.
More than 100 arrests were made last night (AEDT) as about 3000 protesters massed outside the conference centre.
The Prime Minister warned there were “no guarantees of success” and that getting rich and poor nations to sign on to agreements was the key. “In the past, this has primarily been a debate about what happens with the developed world,” Mr Rudd said.
“We know that the developed world is responsible for the largest slice of accumulated greenhouse gas emissions in the atmosphere . . . the biggest contributors to greenhouse gas emissions in the future will be the major developing countries, led by China.
“China already - as of today - is the world’s largest polluter. It’s now bigger than the United States. For the first time in history, there is the prospect of an agreement which brings in the developing countries, for the first time.”
Developing countries are demanding more than $100 billion a year to help cope with the effects of global warming and reduce their own emissions but the UN has so far only secured informal backing for an initial $10bn-a-year “start- up” fund for the next three years and has received firm pledges for only a fraction of that amount.
The financing plan proposes to raise $80bn a year after the three-year “fast-start” program expires, rising to $160bn a year by 2020, through levies on international shipping and aviation and possibly a financial transaction tax such as the Tobin tax on global financial transactions, although the Tobin tax idea has been rejected by the US, Canada, Russia and the International Monetary Fund.
The broad plan was also discussed at a special summit of European Union leaders over the weekend, but the fact that it is being presented by Ethiopia could help overcome developing-nation suspicions and encourage major developing-country emitters such as China and India to promise internationally binding emission reductions. Mr Meles announced his proposal at the high-level segment of yesterday’s meeting, saying he knew its funding was not as ambitious as some African countries would have liked.
“I know my proposal will disappoint some Africans . . . It scales back the ambition in return for more reliable funding and a seat at the table in the management of any such funding,” he said. “Because we have more to lose than others, we have to be more flexible than others and go the extra mile . . . Such flexibility should not be confused with desperation.”
Mr Brown said Mr Meles’s proposals were a “framework within which developed and developing countries can work together”.
So far, Japan has reportedly offered $11bn a year for the “fast-start” financing fund, and the EU about $10.5bn. The US and Australia have promised to contribute their “fair share”, without specifying amounts.
Under the Ethiopian and French plan, 40 per cent of the fast-start money would go to Africa and 20 per cent would be used to stop deforestation in developing countries. Details would be worked out by a group of developed and developing countries to report to the next G20 meeting. The fund would concentrate on “poor and vulnerable countries, particularly in Africa, least developed countries, small island states and other developing countries with a low per-capita income”.
The chief executive of Australian think tank the Climate Institute, John Connor, said last night it was good the negotiations were being handed over to politicians. He attacked some negotiators for their criticism of Australia and other countries. “While there are some legitimate concerns for developing countries, some of the negotiators are using a tax on Australia and other developed countries to avoid scrutiny of their own actions,” he said.
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