Kyoto parties eye weaker wording on 2020 emissions cut target: draft

POZNAN, Poland, Dec. 10 Kyodo - The 183 parties that have ratified the Kyoto Protocol will use weaker wording than previously considered on their resolve to fight global warming by setting
a 2020 greenhouse gas emissions reduction target for rich countries, according to the latest draft of a chair's conclusions to be adopted Friday at the closing plenary session of two-week U.N. climate change talks in Poznan, Poland.
The parties ''recognized'' the importance of developed countries slashing
emissions by 25-40 percent from 1990 levels by 2020, a range advocated by the
U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, state the draft conclusions
dated midnight Tuesday, a copy of which was obtained Wednesday by Kyodo News.
An earlier draft dated last Friday stated that the level of ambition for
emission cuts by industrial countries ''should be informed'' by the proposed
reduction range.
The dilution of the language on the level of developed countries' commitment on
climate change was led by Japan, Canada and other countries, according to
delegates to the Ad Hoc Working Group on Further Commitments for Annex I
Parties under the Kyoto Protocol, known as AWG-KP.
The latest version is identical to one adopted by the AWG-KP during the U.N.
climate talks in Bali, Indonesia, last year, a move that is likely to spark
criticism from environmentalists and developing countries.
The AWG-KP, which does not include the United States and eight other countries
that have not ratified the Kyoto pact, is meeting under the 14th Session of the
Conference of the Parties to the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change in
the western Polish city.
==Kyodo