Huhne to stay at UN climate talks

By Richard Black

Mr Huhne’s return will leave the UK without ministerial representation at the key talks in Cancun

UK Climate Secretary Chris Huhne is set to fly back to London from the UN climate summit for the Thursday’s Commons vote on student tuition fees.

Campaigners say the move could damage prospects of a deal, as Mr Huhne has been tasked with brokering a compromise on the troubled Kyoto Protocol.

The coalition asked Labour to withdraw an MP from the ballot so Mr Huhne could stay, but the opposition declined.

Junior minister Greg Barker is also to return for the crucial vote.

However, it is understood that Mr Huhne and his team are still attempting to secure a “pairing” with either a Labour MP or someone from a smaller opposition party, which would allow him to remain in Cancun.

“What I find outrageous about this is that the normal arrangements which apply to ministers representing the country at important international negotiations are being completely flouted by the Labour Party,” Mr Huhne told BBC Radio 5 live.

“They are playing student politics with major issues like international climate change and I think it shows a level of immaturity in the Labour leadership which I think is, frankly, shocking.”

Campaigners also said Labour and particularly Ed Miliband – who as climate secretary played a leading role at last year’s UN summit in Copenhagen – should assist Mr Huhne to remain.

“Ed Miliband should step up to the plate and act in a statesman like manner by pairing up a Labour MP with Chris Huhne, who is key to the negotiations in Cancun,” said John Sauven of Greenpeace UK.

“We need Miliband to build on his personal legacy from Copenhagen to ensure Britain’s key role in the Mexico climate negotiations is not undermined.”

‘Car crash’ concerns

But Meg Hillier, Labour’s Shadow Energy and Climate Secretary, said it was the government’s decisions to hold the tuition fees vote now.

“It is a shame that Britain might be without a representative at the climate change talks because the coalition insist on rushing through legislation that is not fair, not necessary and not good for higher education,” she said.

“The Lib Dems should realise we need ministers out there getting the best we can from Cancun. There are plenty of rebels within the Lib Dems that they could persuade to be paired-off against Chris Huhne.”

However, in a speech during one of the plenary sessions at the conference, Mr Huhne turned his attention away from party politics in Westminster to the global issue of climate change.

He told delegates that a “car crash of a summit” was in no-one’s interest.

“The answer has to be compromise,” Mr Huhne urged.

“We cannot do everything here but we can make progress on mitigation, deforestation, adaptation, finance, reporting and more. And restore momentum to the global process – concrete steps to the treaty we want.”

He added: “We believe that the future of the Kyoto Protocol is vital to the success of this process.”

Mr Huhne, together with Brazil’s Environment Minister Izabella Teixeira, were asked by the Mexican host government to find compromise ground over the Kyoto Protocol.

Japan said at the start of this meeting that it will not accept further emission cuts under the protocol. Their opposition is backed by Canada and Russia.

But developing countries are adamant that the protocol must continue.

It is seen as one of the key issues that must be resolved if there is to be any prospect of securing a new global climate deal.

Withering away

As the ministerial segment of this summit opened on Tuesday, the UN’s top climate official, Christiana Figueres, had declared that time was running out for a deal.

“The political stakes are high because the effectiveness and credibility of your intergovernmental, multilateral process are in danger,” she said.

“And the environmental stakes are high because we are quickly running out of time to safeguard our future.

“Tuvalu, The Maldives, Kiribati, Vanuatu are looking for ways of evacuating their entire populations because of salt water intrusion and sea level rise; their fate is a wake-up call to all of us.”

Earlier, the UN Environment Programme (Unep) formally presented delegates with the results of a study published two weeks ago, showing that pledges on the table for curbing emissions will not be enough to keep the global average temperature rise below the levels that most governments say they want.

The vast majority of countries want to keep the rise within either 1.5C or 2C since pre-industrial times.

Lou Leonard from WWF was one of many environment campaigners emphasising that the agreement coming out of here must allow for countries to increase their pledges, to close this gap.

“They say they want 2C, the pledges don’t get to 2C – it’s like the emperor has no clothes,” he said.

The future of the Kyoto Protocol is just one of the issues dividing countries.

To facilitate compromise, the Mexican hosts have asked five pairs of ministers – one from a developing country, one from a developed – to explore particularly difficult areas.

They span emission cuts, adaptation to climate impacts, and the transfer of technology and money from rich to poor.

Mr Huhne agreed that the stakes were high; without movement here, he suggested, some governments would downgrade the importance they placed on the UN convention and its potential to deliver a meaningful climate pact.

This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.