Worries grow over carbon emission goals

Rich countries are coming under the spotlight from developing nations as new negotiations loom to curb global greenhouse gas emissions, and they are found wanting. Although many believe the next US administration will be more active in curbing emissions, many other nations are seen as having achieved too little and some scientists are increasingly worried that even the current most stringent targets may be insufficient to stabilise greenhouse gas levels within manageable limits. According to the UN's chief climate official, developing countries, including China and India, are unwilling to sign up to a new global climate change agreement to replace the Kyoto protocol in 2012 because the rich world has failed to set a clear example on cutting carbon emissions. Rajendra Pachauri, head of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), said too many rich countries, including the US, had failed to take the action needed to convince the developing nations to sign up to a deal in Copenhagen next year that could help to stabilise global emissions. " You may not be able to get an agreement in one shot, let's say by Copenhagen, that sets you on the path of stabilisation in keeping with some kind of long-term target, " he said. " I doubt whether any of the developing countries will make any commitments before they have seen the developed countries take a specific stand. " He said there were " reasons for dismay " at the rich countries' failure to cut carbon emissions. Pachauri said Germany had set a god example, with significant investment in renewable energy. Analysts say a new global deal needs to be agreed at the Copenhagen meeting for it to come into force by 2012, because it will take several years to be ratified by countries. If a new deal is not in place when Kyoto expires, then confidence in the emerging carbon-trading markets — seen as a key way to reduce greenhouse gas pollution — could collapse. Schemes such as the European emissions trading scheme, set up under Kyoto, force polluting companies to invest in carbon credits or cleaner technology, but rely on carbon caps continuing past 2012. Any reluctance by China to participate in a new agreement would spell problems for the new US president, who could sign a deal in Copenhagen next year and then find it rejected by the US Senate. Several leading figures in the US have …