ZT: 星島：戈爾驚爆氣候峰會失敗內幕中國暗地向美提議遭拒

步從容

2010年4月23日星島日報綜合報道：

美國前副總統戈爾透露內幕，指出去年底哥本哈根氣候峰會之前，中國曾向美國提出建議，遭美國拒絕。他說峰會失敗，美國應負大部分責任。

戈爾周四在滿地可出席國際會議，他在會上透露，哥本哈根峰會在去年12 月舉行；在峰會舉行之前中國曾向美國提出建議，但美國拒絕了。

按戈爾的說法，美國國會提出的環境改革議案，其中一項建議是要大大降低美國的溫室氣體排放，但議案去秋沒有在美國參議院通過，而且也令中國在峰會舉行前收到錯誤的訊息。

他說：「中國曾透過私人渠道向美國提議，如果美國通過法律，規定廢排標準在1990 年水平以下，中國便會著力，協助談判出一個有用的、有約束力的協議。」

結果，出席峰會各國代表只是通過了簡單的協議，表示「明白」有需要就氣候轉變問題上采取行動，令環保分子氣餒。

　　美國應負大部分責任

峰會無法達成有約束力的協議，幾名觀察家的評論是中國需負責任，但戈爾的發言否定了這說法。

他說道：「參議院沒有通過議案，中國也躊躇不前，其余各國也只是獲得一紙政治上約束力的協議。」戈爾說：「峰會也有小許作為，但不足以稱之為成功。」
此后，美國一些參議員將該法案大事修改，結果去年無法通過。他們下周會在華府提出一連串妥協改革，戈爾稱獲得通過的機會會高些。

是次會議是聯合國千禧年發展目標會議(Millennium Development Goals)。戈爾的發言是要將貧窮及氣候轉變拉上關系。　　（資料來源：加通社）
Gore blames U.S. for Copenhagen failure

Thu Apr 22, 5:13 PM
By Jonathan Montpetit, The Canadian Press

MONTREAL - The United States deserves much of the blame for the failure of the Copenhagen climate summit after it turned its back on a little-known offer from China, former U.S. vice-president Al Gore said Thursday.

Gore offered a post-mortem of the summit at an international conference in Montreal, during which he revealed the Americans ignored a proposal from China in the days leading up to the December meetings.

Last fall, the U.S. Senate avoided passing sweeping environmental reforms that would have included a law to drastically cut the country's greenhouse gas emissions.

According to Gore, that sent the wrong signal to a potential ally heading into the climate talks.

"China had sent word through private channels to the U.S. that if the U.S. passed a law requiring a reduction of emissions below the 1990 levels then China would lean forward and help get a meaningful binding treaty," he told an audience of several hundred people.

"But the Senate failed to act and so President Obama was forced to go to Copenhagen without anything to put on the table."

The Copenhagen summit ended with a watered-down agreement by hundreds of countries to "take note" of the need for action on climate change, frustrating many environmentalists.

Gore's comments in Montreal will challenge the interpretation of several observers who blamed China for the failure to reach a binding accord.

He said following the Americans' refusal to ratify the Kyoto Protocol, the international community needed to see concrete action from Washington to prove it was serious about tackling climate change.

"When the Senate failed, then China balked and the rest of it unravelled to the point where they got a politically binding agreement but no more," Gore said.

"There was some progress, but not nearly enough to call it a success."

Some U.S. senators have since overhauled the legislation that failed to pass last year. They will unveil a series of compromise reforms in Washington next week that Gore says stand a greater chance of becoming law.

In his speech to the conference, which centred on the United Nations' Millennium Development Goals, Gore sought to make the link between poverty and climate change.

It represented an expansion of the Nobel laureate's more scientific arguments about the urgency of dealing with climate change.

The science of climate change has faced an unprecedented attack in recent months after several errors were discovered in estimates by the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the group with which Gore shared the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize.

Gore himself appeared to back away from earlier warnings the summer Arctic ice cap could disappear by 2014, saying Thursday it was "a matter of a decade or so."

Instead he focused on the moral dimension of the climate change debate, which he called "a challenge to our understanding of who we are as human beings."

Indeed, Gore ended his speech sounding more like a preacher than a scientist.

"Rally the forces of conscience and common sense to solve this crisis," he implored his audience.