US Unlikely To Increase GHG Cuts, Commit To Any Firm Numbers On Developing World Climate Aid - Stern

[hatrack]

Dec. 14 (Bloomberg) -- The U.S. is unlikely to boost its emissions-cut goal at the Copenhagen climate talks or disclose how much it’s willing to give poorer countries to help cope with global warming beyond 2012, an official close to the talks said.

President Barack Obama’s negotiators at the United Nations meetings for a new climate treaty are focused mainly on finance for the next three years, said the official, who declined to be identified because the discussions are private. On pollution reductions, Obama has proposed cutting U.S. greenhouse-gas by about 17 percent in the coming decade from 2005 levels.

EDIT

Obama’s lead climate negotiator Todd Stern said last week that a final deal in Copenhagen may include an overall figure, with each country’s contributions to be determined later. “The problem is, I don’t think the European Union and Japan will agree on a combined number that assumes the U.S. is doing its share without the U.S. being clear it can do its share,” Meyer said.

The EU estimates the developing world faces total annual costs of 100 billion euros ($147 billion) by 2020 to cope with climate change and limit emissions many scientists blame for global warming, according to the EU. Public aid may account for as much as half of the amount, according to the bloc, which has signaled that its share may amount to as much as 15 billion euros a year.

EDIT

http://news.yahoo.com/s/bloomberg/20091214/pl_bloomberg/avslnmdlrmve