Largest Climate Change Summit Closes

The 13 days of talks in Montreal were unexpectedly dominated by the large rift between Kyoto advocates seeking to move forward on the post-2012 period, and the US and its allies, who drew a hard line against any obligations after 2012. At one point on 9 December, chief US negotiator Harlan Watson and his aides walked out of the negotiations when delegates moved to include the word “dialogue” in the final communiqué regarding plans to combat climate change in the future. “If it walks like a duck, looks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, then it's a duck,” Watson said, contending that the word choice implied that countries that participate in those talks could be bound by the conclusion that emerges from them. The US has maintained that it will not participate in any talks that could lead to binding emissions reduction targets. But in the end, the word was left in. The US reluctantly agreed to the text, but only under the condition that it also specifically ruled out “negotiations leading to new commitments.” “The text that was adopted recognizes the diversity of approaches toward confronting climate change,” said Watson, who has advocated voluntary measures and a greater emphasis on technological solutions in lieu of binding emissions cuts. http://www.isn.ethz.ch/news/sw/details_print.cfm?id=13808 [Proofreader's note: this article was edited for spelling and typos on December 11, 2005]

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