Climate agreement ‘missing vital sign post,’ says World Evangelical Alliance

The World Evangelical Alliance (WEA) has welcomed the landmark global agreement on climate change struck at the UN Climate Change Conference in Bali, Indonesia on Saturday, but warned that its success may be jeopardized if world governments fail to agree firm targets for reducing emissions by the time of the next major gathering in 2009.

A last minute compromise from the US cleared the way for agreement to be reached between the more than 180 countries gathered in Bali over the last two weeks charged with launching negotiations on a replacement to the Kyoto Protocol, which expires in 2012.

The new deal commits the US and China to global greenhouse goals for the first time, as well as a two-year process to negotiate further emissions cuts, to culminate in the adoption of a new agreement in Copenhagen in 2009.

Andy Atkins, the WEA’s environment spokesperson and Policy Director at UK evangelical relief and development agency Tearfund, was among more than 10,000 participants at the Conference, hosted by the Government of Indonesia and took place at the Bali International Convention Center. Atkins disapproved western countries like Japan, Canada, the US and Australia for “playing hard ball” during negotiations, which slid into overtime on Friday and Saturday due to the US’ opposition to Indian demands for greater leniency to be shown towards developing nations in the new deal.

While Atkins welcomed the new agreement as a sign of progress in tackling climate change on an international level, he criticized governments for rejecting a European Union proposal to bind industrialized countries to 25 – 40 percent carbon emissions cuts by 2020.

“The stalling tactics of the Bush Administration and a few others snatched mediocrity from the jaws of resounding success,” he said on Saturday.

“The good news is we have a process to negotiate further emissions cuts by 2020. Getting more than 180 countries to agree was no mean feat. But the fact that there is no agreement about exactly how far to cut emissions means the Bali roadmap is missing a vital signpost.”

He added, “An ambitious, science-based target will have to be agreed by 2009 if the new agreement is not to be fatally flawed.”

Dr. Geoff Tunnicliffe, International Director of WEA, shared his feelings on the outcome of the conference upon his return from visit to South Korea.

“We are generally encouraged by the progress made at the Bali summit achieved on addressing both the causes and effects of climate change,” he said. “However, for the sake of the poor and for the love of God’s creation, governments must be encouraged to work very hard over the next two years to establish the new global framework.”

World Evangelical Alliance (WEA): World Evangelical Alliance is made up of 128 national evangelical alliances located in 7 regions and 104 associate member organizations.