UN Chief Sees Commitment to Climate Change

"U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said a one-day high-level meeting on climate change on Monday was a turning point in the battle against global warming.

"What I heard today is a major political commitment for a breakthrough in climate change in Bali," Ban said.
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A meeting scheduled in Bali, Indonesia, for December is aimed at jump-starting talks to find a successor to the Kyoto Protocol, which seeks to curb climate-warming emissions.

"Science has spoken clearly," Ban said at a final news conference. "Now we need a political answer."

Calling Monday's gathering a "sea change in the response to climate change," Ban acknowledged that negotiations that will begin in Bali may be a long, difficult process.

Asked specifically what would happen if U.S. President George W. Bush continued to oppose mandatory limits on greenhouse gas emissions in favour of voluntary ones, Ban replied, "I have high expectations of all countries, including ... the United States."

Bush did not attend the climate meeting but dined later with Ban and representatives from countries that emit the most greenhouse gases, as well as those countries most at risk from climate change.

Before the dinner, Bush said he had discussed the issue with Brazilian President Luiz Ignacio Lula da Silva and that he had agreed to attend a Washington meeting of the biggest emitting countries on Thursday and Friday." |Read more|