BONN, Germany — Industrial countries are falling short on pledging to slash their carbon emissions over the next decade, the U.N. climate chief said Wednesday, while the chief U.S. delegate urged negotiators to adopt a more long-term strategy.
Contrasting visions of the fight against global warming emerged in the first appearance of the U.S. delegation sent by President Barack Obama, which was warmly welcomed at a two-week session attended by 175 nations.
Ending his first round as chief U.S. delegate, Jonathan Pershing said he found “wide divergence” of positions and “implausible” demands from some developing countries on wealthier nations.
“The negotiations themselves are just starting. For every issue that is before us, there seems to be two or five or 10 perspectives,” he said.
The talks, launched 15 months ago, have made little progress on the key issues of rich-country commitments to reduce emissions of heat-trapping greenhouse gases, and how to raise and distribute $100 billion annually to help poor countries adapt to dramatic changes in the climate that already have begun.
Most delegations have embraced the conclusions of a panel of U.N. scientists that industrial countries must together cut carbon emissions by 25 to 40 percent from 1990 levels by 2020 to avoid a catastrophic rise in sea levels, harsher storms and droughts, and climate disruptions that would affect millions of predominantly poor people.
A bloc of developing countries said that target should be raised to 45 percent in light of new evidence that global warming is happening faster than predicted.
But Pershing said that after dozens of quiet meetings and corridor conversations he was beginning to find some support for the U.S. position that a climate change agreement should look at midcentury objectives rather than focus on short-range targets difficult to meet.
The talks have set a December deadline to replace the 1998 Kyoto Protocol, which set mandatory targets for carbon emissions for 37 countries. The United States rejected that agreement.
