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G20 fails to reach pre-Copenhagen climate finance deal
2009-11-07
ST ANDREWS, Scotland (AFP) - G20 nations fell short of reaching agreement on climate finance a month before key UN talks, while pledging Saturday to maintain stimulus measures for a still "uneven" global economy. The 20 leading economies committed to work for an "ambitious outcome" at December's vital Copenhagen climate change conference, but could not achieve their goal of agreeing how to distribute funding to poor countries to tackle the problem. "We committed to take action to tackle the threat of climate change and work towards an ambitious outcome in Copenhagen" where countries will seek agreement on slashing greenhouse gas emissions, the communique said. Finance ministers also said they would stick to emergency stimulus support measures despite signs that the world was emerging from a 12-month financial maelstrom. "We are not out of the woods yet and we need to maintain the measures we have taken," Alistair Darling, finance minister of G20 president Britain, said. With the world's biggest economy barely out of recession, US Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner said there was a "very broad consensus that growth remains the dominant policy." Meanwhile, a proposal by British Prime Minister Gordon Brown for a tax on global financial transactions got a lukewarm response, with the United States offering no support. A month before the December 7-18 Copenhagen conference, the G20 said it was fully behind fighting climate change, though it promised only to "take forward" work on funding and provided no figures. "We committed to take action to tackle the threat of climate change and work towards an ambitious outcome in Copenhagen," the communique said. "We discussed climate change financing options and recognised the need to increase significantly and urgently the scale and predictability of finance to implement an ambitious international agreement." But there were signs of discord on the issue. A French source told AFP late Friday that some emerging countries say the G20 is not the "appropriate forum" to discuss the issue. Darling had earlier acknowledged there were "different views" around the table which would lead to "arguments." "If there isn't an agreement on finance, if there isn't an agreement about contributions to make sure we can deal with this problem, then the Copenhagen agreement is going to be much, much more difficult," he said. The outcome was criticised by campaigners including environmental group WWF. In a statement, it said the G20 had "failed to reach agreement on the financing required for a global agreement to stave off catastrophic climate change" and voiced "scepticism" about promises to make further progress before Copenhagen. Brown had earlier urged the G20 to consider a tax on global financial transactions, known as a Tobin Tax, as part of a new "social contract" for banks. The move would be one way of reflecting the "global responsibilities" which financial institutions have to society, said Brown, who has in the past been wary of such a tax because of fears it could harm Britain's financial sector. Asked by Sky News television whether he backed a Tobin Tax, US Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner said: "No, that's not something that we're prepared to support." In a later press conference, he added: "I think it is fair to say that we agree that we have to build a system in which taxpayers are not exposed to risk of loss in the future." He said that "we look forward to working with our counterparts" on how to avoid this although declined to say if the US would actively oppose such a tax. Brown stressed Britain would not act alone on the Tobin Tax, saying it would also have to be implemented by all the world's major financial centres, including the US, Europe, Asia, the Middle East and Switzerland. "Let me be clear: Britain will not move unless others move with us together," he said. Earlier, around 200 people, many dressed in bankers' pinstriped suits, gathered on a beach in St Andrews to protest against the meeting -- claiming the talking had to stop and firm action taken.
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