UN Climate Chief Says Comprehensive Treaty May Not Come by 2009

By Alex Morales

Dec. 9 (Bloomberg) -- The top United Nations climate change official said international talks are not progressing fast enough to produce a “comprehensive” treaty by the end of next year to stem global warming.

Too many issues remain unresolved, said Yvo de Boer, executive secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, during a meeting with reporters at international talks on global warming in Poznan, Poland.

Delegates from about 190 nations have gathered in the Polish city until Dec. 12 to negotiate a new treaty to trim greenhouse- gas emissions and fight climate change. They planned to sign a final agreement at a conference in Copenhagen next December.

“We’re working under a very tight timeline,” de Boer said. “I don’t think that (considering) where we are now that we are going to be able to produce a fully elaborate and comprehensive agreement in Copenhagen.” Still, he said some kind of an accord could be produced that is acceptable to nations and be ratified.

In Poznan, delegates are working to produce a “shared vision” that will frame the eventual treaty text. That blueprint is unlikely to include any firm commitments on greenhouse-gas cuts from developed nations, U.S. delegation chief Harlan Watson said last week.

Developing nations have called for the industrialized world to act first, as they are the largest historical emitters.

Delegates are also discussing issues including how to channel funds to poor countries to help them adapt to the effects of climate change, how to reward nations for avoiding emissions from deforestation and how to bring clean-energy technologies such as wind and solar power to the developing world.

To contact the reporter on this story: Alex Morales in London at amorales2@bloomberg.net.