US climate delegation chief rules out further UN negotiations

Montreal (Platts)--8Dec2005

The chief of the US delegation to climate change talks here Wednesday
firmly ruled out US participation in UN climate change negotiations, saying
that such negotiations "will not reap progress."

     The US had previously rejected a Canadian proposal to engage it and other
countries not parties to the Kyoto Protocol in discussions with the goal of
initiating negotiations on possible alternative measures to combat global
warming.

     "It is our belief that our progress cannot be made through these
formalized discussions," Paula Dobriansky, US under-secretary of state for
democracy and global affairs, told reporters. "We believe the best approach
and the best way forward is one that takes into account diversified and
differing approaches, not one size fits all."

     The UN climate change talks here do "provide a forum for the very active
exchange of what countries are doing to address climate change in the 
near-intermediate and long-term, and we have been active participants,"
Dobriansky said. "But we also believe firmly that negotiations will not reap
progress because we have differing perspectives on the best way forward."

     Among those in attendance at the talks, Hans Veriome, director of the
World Wildlife Fund's US climate change program, said he was puzzled by
Dobriansky's remarks.

     The Canadian text "does not limit the breadth or diversity of those
discussions or differences among the parties," he said. "The US now seems to
preclude from moving forward an initiative that would actually discuss broader
participation."

     Veriome also questioned how the US position conforms with President
Bush's pledge at the G8 meeting in Gleneagles, Scotland, earlier this year
that the US would "engage constructively" in a dialog on future measures to
combat global warming. That language "was deliberately inserted as a reference
to this meeting," he said.

				-Gerald Karey, gerry_karey@platts.com

     For more information, take a trial to Platts Global Alert at
http://globalalert.platts.com.

Please visit: www.platts.com

Their coverage of energy matters is extensive!!.