Emissions impossible?

Diminished expectations

Confidence in international climate talks reached a new low this summer, after a high-level conference in August ended with recriminations and hand-wringing.
Global talks have “gone backwards”, said Connie Hedegaard, the European commissioner for climate action, after a one-week meeting in Bonn ended on 6 August. The talks were meant to prepare for a bigger meeting in Cancún, Mexico, at the end of the year, at which it was hoped to remedy last December's Copenhagen failure to agree a successor to the Kyoto protocol.
One major problem is that the United States has not agreed climate legislation, leaving other big polluters, such as China, reluctant to act. The economic gloom also continues to cast a shadow over the talks.
While the international talks are stuck, the EU is reflecting on whether it should make a more ambitious pledge of a 30% greenhouse-gas reduction target by 2020, compared to the current target of 20% (from 1990 levels). EU leaders are expected to discuss this option at their next summit meeting in October, but officials are playing down expectations of a decision.
The Commission is preparing technical analysis of what a 30% target would mean for each member state, but this will not be ready until after the October meeting. The crucial debate will be next year – a familiar refrain in the climate talks.