Friction over emissions at an international conference

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NUSA DUA, Indonesia -- Canada, the United States and Japan are the main opponents of a European effort to set an ambitious goal of cutting greenhouse gas emissions by as much as 40 percent by the end of the next decade, environmentalists say.The plan is emerging as the most fiercely debated issue at the Bali climate conference.No country alone is likely to be willing to block an agreement at Bali, but an alliance of several countries would be enough to stop any deal. Canada has an influential role because the United States, the strongest opponent, is unable to attend all of the negotiating sessions at Bali, since it did not ratify the Kyoto accord. Canada's Environment Minister John Baird was scheduled to speak to delegates and environmentalists for the first time Tuesday to explain Canada's climate-change policy, but he left the room without speaking. Environmental activists were enraged, and many of the 100 audience members, who had hoped to question Baird, stormed out angrily when it was announced that he had left.A senior government official said Baird left the event because he "had to meet with Canadian negotiators."The Bali talks were given fresh urgency after a warning that the planet could be facing "oblivion" if it fails to take drastic steps soon."The situation is so desperately serious that any delay could push us past the tipping point, beyond which the ecological, financial and human costs would increase dramatically," United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told the conference delegates.Stavros Dimas, the European Union Environment Commissioner and the chief European negotiator, said it is crucial to establish an ambitious goal -- 25 percent to 40 percent -- for reductions in greenhouse gases by industrialized countries by 2020."Science tells us that these reductions are necessary," he said. "Logic requires that we listen to science."But Canada has joined the United States and Japan in trying to block any reference to this goal in the final agreement at the Bali conference. Canadian negotiators tried to veto the European proposal at a closed-door negotiating session on Monday. A United Nations official said the proposal had been restored to the latest draft agreement, but its fate remained in jeopardy.Baird, asked repeatedly by journalists to explain why Canada is blosuggested that it would be prematusuggested that it would be premature to begin talking numbers at Bali."We're not here to do the formal negotiations," he said. "We're here to launch negotiations. ... If we can get all major emitters on board, we'd be quite prepared to look at a 25- to 40-percent absolute reduction in emissions."(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, www.scrippsnews.com.)