Christian Aid welcomes the last-minute agreement at the Bali climate change conference - but is dismayed that cast-iron targets were removed from the final text.
The deal will enable negotiations to start on a second phase of the Kyoto Protocol, which needs to be in place by 2012.
'The roadmap lacks signposts and there is no agreed destination.'
But the lack of crucial target figures for cutting carbon emissions in rich countries is a major disappointment.
Climate change
‘Climate change is already having a devastating impact on the lives of some of the world’s poorest communities through drought and flooding,' says Nelson Muffuh, a senior Christian Aid climate change policy analyst. 'The lack of clear targets in the roadmap leaves them exposed to further catastrophe.’
Progress was made in Bali on the transfer of clean technology to poorer nations and the provision of additional money to help those most exposed to climate change adapt and defend themselves.
A pledge was also made to protect forests in tropical countries. These developments, however, are eclipsed by the failure to introduce carbon cuts targets.
‘We were expecting a roadmap, and we’ve got one,’ says Muffuh. ‘But it lacks signposts and there is no agreed destination.’
The missing numbers
A reference to 25-40% cuts for industrialised countries by 2020 over 1990 levels was included in a draft agreement produced in the middle of the Bali conference.
This range reflected recommendations made in a report this year by the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), which said the cuts were essential to prevent global temperatures rising above two degrees.
Cuts of this size were also called for in a document agreed at an earlier meeting in Vienna of Kyoto Protocol signatories, including Britain.
In Bali, however, the inclusion of a specific range of targets - even non binding ones - was strongly resisted by the governments of the United States, Russia, Japan and Canada.
The IPCC report, barely merits a footnote reference in the final Bali report.
US agenda
‘For most of the conference, the US delegation in particular proved a major obstacle to progress. They appeared to operate a wrecking policy, as though determined to derail the whole process.
'The lack of clear targets leaves poor countries exposed to further catastrophe.’
‘We must praise the heroism of some of the developing countries who are far less wealthy and far less responsible for the problem than the US, and yet came here with a desire to see a deal agreed. It was their bravery in standing up to the US that no doubt played a part in its u-turn.'
Muffuh fears that American attitudes at Bali could set a poor precedent for continuing negotiations.
‘The Bush administration has said throughout that it wants to see developing countries agree to cuts in carbon emissions.
'A number of emerging economies put creative, flexible plans on the table, but will have little incentive to negotiate further until the industrialised world agrees deeper cuts.'