Chinese Climate Negotiator - Aim For End Of 2011 For Any Binding Multinational Agreement - Reuters

[hatrack]

A senior Chinese climate official said on Tuesday that negotiators aim to seal a binding global pact on warming by the end of 2011, a blow to any lingering hopes the world could reach a deal at talks this year in Mexico.

Xie Zhenhua, who led China's delegation to fractious negotiations in Copenhagen last year, said the only target for a December gathering in coastal Cancun city was a "positive result."

Top European and U.N. officials had already all but ruled out a deal this year, but Xie's comments are the first time the world's number one emitter has confirmed it also does not expect to seal a new pact in 2010.

"Everyone is now taking pragmatic measures, and working hard in a positive manner, in order that we can achieve a legally binding agreement at next year's meeting in South Africa," Xie told a Sino-European political forum.

Environment ministers of the so-called BASIC bloc of major emerging economies -- Brazil, South Africa, India and China -- agreed a month ago that a deal should be sealed by 2011. But Xie signaled that was more a target than a last-ditch deadline, with talks in Mexico at the end of the year likely to produce little more than incremental progress on less-controversial issues like forest protection schemes.

EDIT

Ed. - emphasis added.

http://planetark.org/enviro-news/item/58172

[eppur_se_muova]

1. Still beats the Bu**sh** record. nt