African delegates walked out of meetings during United Nations climate change talks in Barcelona, Spain this week, claiming that developed countries were not making solid commitments to cut their emissions of climate-warming gases.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the Atlantic, a group of Republican lawmakers boycotted debates in the US Senate’s Environment and Public Works Committee on a bill to lower greenhouse gas emissions. Such a bill would impose too heavy a cost on the nation’s economy, the boycotting lawmakers said. Only one Republican senator was present at the Committee meeting, and he merely explained his colleagues’ absence before leaving himself.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who urged a joint session of US Congress to take action on climate change, received a lukewarm response.

The lack of movement in the US Congress has reinforced developing countries’ views that richer nations are not committed to doing enough to curb greenhouse gas emissions. “I don’t think we can get to a result in the way we’re going now,” said Kamel Djemouai, Algerian negotiator and chair of the Africa group. “The figures that are now on the table are grossly insufficient.”

The recent displays of protest in both Washington and Barcelona show the pressure building up to the upcoming Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change in Copenhagen from 7 to 18 December, which are set to produce a new agreement that will ensure the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change gets fully implemented.  The Convention contains consensual principles and commitments for developed and developing countries, yet since it’s ratification in 1992 very little has been done to fulfull those promises

So far in the negotiations, the US delegation has been reluctant to propose a limit for US greenhouse gas emissions, claiming they cannot propose specific figures until their draft national legislation has been approved by Congress. This has been a cause for concern among other delegations, who want Washington to take concrete action before the Copenhagen conference.  “I do not think the international community will accept an agreement that lacks clarity from the US on targets,” said Yvo de Boer, the secretary-general of UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), according to media reports.

US President Barack Obama has repeatedly affirmed his commitment to the climate change agenda, despite Congress’ hesitation.  But Danish Climate and Energy Minister Connie Hedegaard has warned Obama that he should not come to the conference without a clear commitment. European Commission President José Manuel Barroso also showed concern over the slow progress in the negotiations, but urged officials to continue according to their original plan. “If you start to speak of Plan B in Copenhagen, you will probably end up with Plan F,” he said.

ICTSD Reporting; “Climate talks face difficult road ahead of meeting,” AP, 4 November 2009; “Barcelona climate talks turn up heat on US,” EURACTIV, 4 November 2009.

via ICTSD • Update from Barcelona: Climate Talks Face Uphill Battle to Copenhagen.