EU climate chief welcomes India, China stance on Copenhagen

BRUSSELS - The European Union’s top negotiator on climate change welcomed Wednesday India and China’s decision to formally back the agreement reached at an international conference in Copenhagen last year.

In the so-called Copenhagen Accord, a group of developed and emerging powers - including the US, the European Union, Brazil, Mexico, Russia, South Africa and Australia - agreed that global warming should be limited to 2 degrees by 2050, but failed to commit to legally binding cuts on their carbon emissions.

According to the EU’s Climate Action commissioner, Connie Hedegaard, China’s and India’s move “underlines the support of these two key countries to find a global solution to climate change under the UNFCCC”.

India had notified its decision to the UNFCC Monday, followed by China Tuesday. However, the ambiguous language used by both, including avoidance of the word “associated” in relation to the Copenhagen deal, raised doubts about their commitment.

In her statement, Hedegaard struck an optimistic note, saying she believed the two nations could help “achieve concrete results” at the next UN-hosted climate conference, scheduled at the end of the year in Cancun, Mexico.

However, in a debate Tuesday in the European Parliament in Strasbourg, the former Danish climate minister - who chaired most of the Copenhagen summit - warned that the Cancun meeting is unlikely to produce a fully-fledged climate treaty to replace the current Kyoto Agreement.

“Remaining differences between parties may delay agreement on this until next year,” she said, referring to the 2011 conference planned in South Africa.