US response: fat chance, David Steven

David Steven — Mon, 10 Dec 2007 06:58:14 +0000

A few minutes ago, US negotiator, Harlan Watson, made it crystal clear that he has absolutely no intention of signing up to the draft Bali roadmap.

That's no to a 25-40% target by 2020 for developed countries - something Watson thinks would prejudge negotiations and be "totally unrealistic for many countries."

And no, to adding to the text a goal to keep temperatures below 2 degrees, a key European demand. That would not be a helpful starting point for negotiations, he says.

Watson also called for the draft text to be dramatically shortened and simplified, telling the media that "almost every delegation thinks its too long."

Watson advised reporters not to put too much weight on IPCC recommendations on the scale of findings available:

Quote:

I want to remind you that 25-40% figure came out of the IPCC third assessment report, working group 3.

That analysis involved six scenarios out of 177 that were examined. It is a small subset. Many uncertainties are surrounding that and, obviously, there's going to need to be a lot of analysis done over the course of the negotiations.

To start with a predetermined answer is not an appropriate thing to do.

Watson was also dismissive an argument made by Yvo de Boer of the United Nations, that a headline goal now would guide investment decisions over the next couple of years.

"It's unclear how a notional number would guide investment decisions...numbers which for many countries would be entirely realistic," he argued.

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US response: fat chance, David Steven