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| U.N. Climate Talks Near End, With Money at Issue | U.N. Climate Talks Near End, With Money at Issue |
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| WARSAW — The United Nations climate conference ambled toward a conclusion on Friday, with delegates saying that the meeting would produce no more than a modest set of measures toward a new international agreement two years from now. As usual, the biggest dispute was over money. | WARSAW — The United Nations climate conference ambled toward a conclusion on Friday, with delegates saying that the meeting would produce no more than a modest set of measures toward a new international agreement two years from now. As usual, the biggest dispute was over money. |
| The talks, the 19th annual meeting of parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, opened nearly two weeks ago in the shadow of a devastating typhoon in the Philippines. The disaster added momentum to a proposal by poorer nations for the creation of a new mechanism to compensate developing countries for damage from climate-related disasters. | The talks, the 19th annual meeting of parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, opened nearly two weeks ago in the shadow of a devastating typhoon in the Philippines. The disaster added momentum to a proposal by poorer nations for the creation of a new mechanism to compensate developing countries for damage from climate-related disasters. |
| With the clock winding down and the talks likely to extend into Friday night, the so-called loss-and-damage proposal remained alive. But the wealthy countries that would presumably provide financing for the plan were offering a weaker alternative that would wrap it into an existing area of the climate treaty. | With the clock winding down and the talks likely to extend into Friday night, the so-called loss-and-damage proposal remained alive. But the wealthy countries that would presumably provide financing for the plan were offering a weaker alternative that would wrap it into an existing area of the climate treaty. |
| “There are no surprises here,” said Ronald Jumeau, a Seychelles diplomat who acts as spokesman for the Alliance of Small Island States, countries likely to be damaged by rising seas and more intensive storms as greenhouse gases trap ever more energy in the atmosphere. “It’s brinkmanship.” | “There are no surprises here,” said Ronald Jumeau, a Seychelles diplomat who acts as spokesman for the Alliance of Small Island States, countries likely to be damaged by rising seas and more intensive storms as greenhouse gases trap ever more energy in the atmosphere. “It’s brinkmanship.” |
| Mr. Jumeau said that he had not expected the loss-and-damage negotiations to get very far in Warsaw, but that “the concept has now been accepted,” and he would consider it a victory if the issue made it onto the agenda for next year’s talks in Lima, Peru. | Mr. Jumeau said that he had not expected the loss-and-damage negotiations to get very far in Warsaw, but that “the concept has now been accepted,” and he would consider it a victory if the issue made it onto the agenda for next year’s talks in Lima, Peru. |
| Isaac Valero-Ladrón, a spokesman for the European Commission, said European nations were hoping for a compromise on the question, under which the parties would agree that an arrangement could be created to include loss and damage under the existing category of adaptation assistance. | Isaac Valero-Ladrón, a spokesman for the European Commission, said European nations were hoping for a compromise on the question, under which the parties would agree that an arrangement could be created to include loss and damage under the existing category of adaptation assistance. |
| “We do not want a new bureaucracy,” he said. | “We do not want a new bureaucracy,” he said. |
| Surveying the state of negotiations on Thursday, Christiana Figueres, the executive secretary of the United Nations climate body, sought to play down expectations about the outcome, saying the Warsaw talks should be seen as a “steppingstone” toward reaching a successor agreement to the Kyoto Protocol at a climate summit meeting in Paris, scheduled for December 2015. | Surveying the state of negotiations on Thursday, Christiana Figueres, the executive secretary of the United Nations climate body, sought to play down expectations about the outcome, saying the Warsaw talks should be seen as a “steppingstone” toward reaching a successor agreement to the Kyoto Protocol at a climate summit meeting in Paris, scheduled for December 2015. |
| Negotiators remain at odds over many of the same issues that have bedeviled efforts to build a comprehensive global response to climate change. The convention’s 195 member nations agreed in 2010 that they would act to hold the increase in global temperatures to 2 degrees Celsius, or 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit, above preindustrial levels to avoid the most serious consequences of climate change. There was little tangible progress at this meeting on reducing global greenhouse gas emissions to achieve that goal. | Negotiators remain at odds over many of the same issues that have bedeviled efforts to build a comprehensive global response to climate change. The convention’s 195 member nations agreed in 2010 that they would act to hold the increase in global temperatures to 2 degrees Celsius, or 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit, above preindustrial levels to avoid the most serious consequences of climate change. There was little tangible progress at this meeting on reducing global greenhouse gas emissions to achieve that goal. |
| The failure of 2009 talks in Copenhagen to create binding targets to apply to most nations prompted the United States to come to Warsaw with a more informal approach, under which each country would present by early 2015 its own target on how much it could cut emissions. The European Union, with an eye on the Paris talks, has been trying to create momentum for offers to be presented for review next year. | The failure of 2009 talks in Copenhagen to create binding targets to apply to most nations prompted the United States to come to Warsaw with a more informal approach, under which each country would present by early 2015 its own target on how much it could cut emissions. The European Union, with an eye on the Paris talks, has been trying to create momentum for offers to be presented for review next year. |
| But it appeared on Friday that there was no consensus for either proposal, and many countries indicated they did not intend to make any proposal in time for the Paris talks. | But it appeared on Friday that there was no consensus for either proposal, and many countries indicated they did not intend to make any proposal in time for the Paris talks. |
| “Countries are showing their true colors,” said Liz Gallagher, a spokeswoman for Third Generation Environmentalism, or E3G. “They’re obviously taking the idea of a 2015 deadline seriously if they’re trying so hard to wreck it, trying so hard to filibuster.” | |
| “That’s not acceptable,” she said. “We need a timetable and we need to stick to it.” | “That’s not acceptable,” she said. “We need a timetable and we need to stick to it.” |