• Germany edition
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Merkel calls for climate deal in early 2010

Published: 18 Nov 09 18:26 CET
Online: http://www.thelocal.de/national/20091118-23369.html

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Wednesday that crunch UN climate talks in Copenhagen next month must lay the groundwork for a binding international pact to be signed in the first half of 2010.

"Clearly it now depends on us, on Germany and Europe, to be ambitious there and not to put the success of Copenhagen in doubt," Merkel told reporters.

"Success means setting clear objectives so that during next year, better in the first half than in the second, we get a legally binding deal as a successor to the Kyoto Protocol."

Merkel said she would discuss Copenhagen on Thursday with French President Nicolas Sarkozy and with the Swedish EU presidency ahead of a summit of the 27-nation bloc "to make our position clear in Brussels."

"Europe is at the forefront here, and is determined not to give ground on ensuring that Copenhagen has to be a success," she said.

Hopes have been dashed in recent weeks that the December 7-18 UN talks would result in a binding agreement on cutting emissions and giving poor countries access to green technologies and to cope with the ravages of climate change.

Instead the 192 countries attending are set to push for a political deal to prepare the way for a binding pact next year to follow on from the Kyoto Protocol, which expires in 2012.

AFP (news@thelocal.de)

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Your comments about this article:

08:59 November 19, 2009 by crunchy2k
The story here isn't the article, its the photoshop'd picture the art editor used. The rising steam from a cooling tower desolving into a darken ominous storm clouds with rays of light shinning through to wind generators is just masterful manipulation of the visual arts. I love this guy. He's good!!!!!
13:55 November 19, 2009 by barracks
My niece is fond of that manipulating pictures,one time she sent a picture to me standing with all the backgrounds like she is standing in front of the eiffel tower and she said,that picture taken from paris.I thought it's true,in the end she told me it's a manipulation.But it's really amost like original.
16:44 November 20, 2009 by deutschamer
I agree. Misleading pictures are a suble form of propaganda.

BTW, according to some climate change skeptic blogs, someone has hacked in to the Hadley Climate Research Center and has retrieved volumes of data which allegedly shows evidence of outright science fraud in much of the climate change published science. I guess we'll see how that plays out, whether its true or not, and whether the main streem media does its investigative job or not.
21:26 November 20, 2009 by DrGideonPolya
Humanity and the Biosphere (the ecosystems and species of the Planet) are acutely threatened by man-made global warming. However ignorant or corporate-funded climate denialism, the effective climate denialism of insufficiently responsive First World politicians and the growing enormity of what needs to be done lead scientists to say that it is probably too late to stop a climate catastrophe. Who are the climate criminals destroying the Planet? ?"Annual per capita greenhouse gas (GHG) pollution?" in units of ?"tonnes CO2-equivalent per person per year?" is 0.9 (Bangladesh), 0.9 (Pakistan), 2.2 (India), 3.2 (the Developing World), 5.5 (China), 6.7 (the World), 11 (Europe), 12 (GERMANY), 16 (the Developed World), 27 (the US) and 30 (Australia; or 54 if Australia?'s huge Exported CO2 pollution is included). However while there is life there is hope - decent people must act to help save Humanity and the Biosphere of the Planet by (a) informing everyone they can about the worsening Climate Emergency (e.g. see carefully documented articles by the Yarra Valley Climate Action Group and 300.org ) and by (b) urging and taking individual and collective action by Sanctions, Boycotts, Green Tariffs, Reparations Demands and Prosecutions against people, products, corporations and countries involved in the worsening Global Warming, Climate Injustice and Climate Genocide i.e. holding the climate criminals Accountable for their crimes against Humanity and the Biosphere (for details see http://www.countercurrents.org/polya201109.htm and http://mwcnews.net/content/view/34410/42/ ).
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