15 June 2007Planet Ark
Swedish Environment Minister Andreas Carlgren said delegates were united in saying rich nations must lead the fight against greenhouse gases blamed for global warming while encouraging poorer ones to adopt achievable, voluntary targets.
"We should create stimulus for a future climate strategy, for them (developing countries) to really be able to do measurable and reportable emission cuts," he said by video link from the meeting.
The world's eight richest nations agreed earlier this month to make substantial cuts in emissions and to work to clinch a new deal to fight global warming by 2009. The Kyoto pact on greenhouse emissions expires in 2012.
The Kyoto protocol obliges 35 rich nations to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 5 percent below 1990 levels by 2008-12. Nations concerned about climate change are working to find a replacement deal for the post-2012 era.
The UN-led Bali meeting should be the first step toward a new agreement, delegates agreed.
Carlgren said officials agreed the Bali conference "should establish a Road Map with a timetable and concrete steps for the negotiations with a view to reaching an agreement by 2009."
Delegates at the Swedish meeting said the G8 summit in the German resort of Heiligendamm consituted a breakthrough because it had successfully aligned the United States -- the world's biggest polluter and a Kyoto opponent -- more closely into global efforts to curb emissions.
