UN to ramp up climate change talks in 2011

The United Nations is likely to hold two extra meetings to discuss climate change in 2011 as the deadline to meet targets of Kyoto Protocol fast approaches in end-2012, a top United Nations official said on Wednesday.
"We're running out of time. Governments will need to decide this year how they want to take that (Kyoto Protocol) forward," Christiana Figueres, the head of the UN climate change secretariat, told Reuters on the sidelines of the world future energy summit in Abu Dhabi.
The 1997 Kyoto Protocol binds almost 40 industrialised nations to cut greenhouse emissions by an average of 5.2 percent below 1990 levels during the five-year period 2008-2012. However, rich and poor nations are deeply divided about what to do after its first period runs out.
Figueres said the world had made progress at the last meeting in Cancun, Mexico in December, where almost 200 nations agreed a package including a new fund to help developing nations cope with climate change and to try to limit a rise in temperatures to below 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 F) above pre-industrial times by curbing carbon emissions.
"The Cancun agreement was by far the most significant and collective agreement on how much is going to be cut in terms of carbon emissions," she said. "That is not to be underestimated."
"At the same time, it's not enough," she said. "We need to deepen emission reduction commitments that we have on the table now, they are 60 percent of what we need to achieve. This is another thing the governments need to address this year."
To discuss these topics and find ways to overcome the challenges, there was a good chance there would be extra meetings in 2011 - one in April and another in fall possibly, Figueres said. There are scheduled talks in June and December.
In 2009, the UN held four extra sessions in the run-up to the Copenhagen summit, which fell short of agreeing a treaty.
"Governments have to build the institutional infrastructure needed and further discussions have to occur on how to bring about deeper emission cuts," Figueres said.
She said it was likely that the meetings would take place in a UN location. The targets of the Kyoto Protocol were meant to be extended beyond end-2012, however, Japan, Canada and Russia have said they will not extend unless all other big greenhouse emitters also take on targets in a single new pact.
Another major problem the protocol faces is the lack of blessing from the United States. One of the world's major carbon emitters, the US has never ratified the Kyoto Protocol and the opposition in the US Senate means that President Barack Obama may be unable to legislate the cuts in emissions by 2020 that he favours.
Building cities braving the extremely hot temperatures and putting significant amounts of energy to cool these cities, Gulf countries are among the world's highest carbon emitters per capita. Qatar, where the World Cup 2022 will be held, is on top of the list.
Figueres urged Qatar to seek alternative sources of energy. "We hear that Qatar is exploring what options they have to use alternative energy sources to power the World Cup," she said. She did not give details.
The World Cup is traditionally held during the northern hemisphere's summer months after the end of the domestic football league competitions.
"It is a great opportunity for them to use cutting-edge technologies to show to the world that you can achieve cooling in an environmentally sustainable way," she said. But she also said the existence of places like indoor ski slopes, where massive amounts of energy is required to achieve sub-zero temperatures, were contradictory with the global efforts to cut carbon emissions.
"The challenge is to figure out how you differentiate between energy that is absolutely crucial for growth," she said.
"We have so many people without electricity and so many people at the poverty level. Those are the issues which should be the focus energy applications and a priority."