U.S. disappointed, trying for climate talks deal

November 24, 2000
Web posted at: 12:30 PM EST (1730 GMT)

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (Reuters) -- The United States said it was disappointed with compromise proposals aimed at breaking deadlock at U.N. climate talks but would keep trying to get a deal to fight global warming.

"While the United States is deeply disappointed with Minister Pronk's paper, which we consider unacceptably imbalanced, we are pursuing every opportunity to reach a good agreement," a statement by chief U.S. negotiator Frank Loy said.

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"We continue to negotiate with the aim of moving forward on key issues in the fight against global warming," he said, adding: "The situation is very fluid."

It was Washington's first public reaction to a paper by conference president Jan Pronk on Thursday aimed at breaking a deadlock between the United States and the European Union over ways to stop global warming.

U.S. officials said the statement would be their only comment on the situation on Friday -- only 24 hours before a deadline for reaching an agreement.

The EU-U.S. disagreement centers on a U.S. plan to allow developed nations to count carbon dioxide soaked up by forests, so-called carbon sinks, against emissions reduction targets set at a conference in Kyoto, Japan in 1997.

Chief U.S. negotiator Frank Loy said the U.S. is still committed to a deal to fight global warming

The plan would let developed countries claim credit both for planting such forests at home and for paying developing nations to expand their own forests, although Pronk's proposal does not permit this practice to the extent demanded by Washington.

EU officials say the plan promoted by the United States, the world's biggest polluter, would result in an increase in global emissions of the greenhouse gases implicated in climate change, rather than a drop as mandated by the U.N. environmental accord sealed in Kyoto.

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United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change
  • The Convention and the Kyoto Protocol
European Union

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