UN Climate Change Conference opens in Bali: delegates hope to frame successor to Kyoto Treaty

December 3, 2007

The UN Conference on Climate Change in Bali, Indonesia opens today.

Participants at the ten day long conference hope to frame a successor to the 1997 Kyoto Accord, which expires in 2012.

The leading greenhouse gas emitter, China, was exempted from the Kyoto agreement and the second-largest, the US, did not sign. The third-largest emitter, Indonesia, is host to the UN conference.

There have been extensive global preparations for Bali.

Last month in Singapore, ASEAN members signed a declaration at the ASEAN climate change conference in which the 10 member nations pledged to support the UN climate change in Bali In December. The declaration also pledged the members to work cooperatively to promote the use of renewable and alternative sources of energy including solar, wind, hydro and biofuels.

In other pre-Bali preparation, the IBSA (India, Brazil, South Africa) group met in October with Bali on the agenda, while a two-day conference of the 17 “Heavy Smoker” major polluting nations ended with disappointment over President George Bush’s call for voluntary emission targets set by each individual country.

The British climate envoy called the US “isolated” and the South African Environment Minister said “the US needs to go back to the drawing board”.

Australia ratifies Kyoto Treaty as Bali conference opens; US now the lone holdout

Minutes after taking the oath of office as Australian Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd signed documents ratifying the Kyoto Treaty on behalf of Australia. The United States is now the only major industrial ...

UN Conference on Climate Change ends; biofuels remarkably not a major agenda item

In Indonesia, the UN Conference on Climate Change in Bali has ended. Striking to observers was the low level of interest in first-generation biofuels or biofuel discussions. No major discussions or ad...

US climate proposals “simply not enough”, say delegates as Washington climate conference ends

The two-day conference of the 17 "Heavy Smoker" major polluting nations ended with disappointment over President George Bush's call for voluntary emission targets set by each individual country. Th...

UN Secretary-General to visit South America; to “see first-hand the effects of climate change” as Bali conference preparations continue

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon starts a South American tour this week and will visit the Antarctic and the Amazon rain forest to "see first-hand the effects of climate change and deforestation on ...

Al Gore says US to blame for “obstructing progress” in Bali, to thunderous applause

As the UN Conference on Climate Change in Bali approached its final day, signing of the Bali Roadmap document was imperiled by a deadlock over the inclusion of emission reduction targets in the docume...

200 climate scientists sign Bali declaration; call for 50 percent reduction in emissions by 2050; say planet has 10-15 years to reduce, or else

In Indonesia, 200 climate scientists declared that governments had 10 to 15 years to create a decline in global emissions, and that emission reductions needed to be 50 percent by 2050. The declarat...

Written by Jim Lane · Filed Under International, Policy