Davey calls Doha negotiations a ‘modest step forward’

Energy secretary Ed Davey has described a deal struck at the latest round of international climate change talks in Doha as a "modest step forward".

Negotiators from across the world pledged to work towards a new global climate agreement by 2015 and to extend the conditions of the Kyoto Protocol. 

That agreement will seek to drive global emissions reductions for 2020 to close the gap between current emissions pledges and what is needed to hold global warming below 2°C. 

As part of the EU, the UK will work to hit new carbon targets under the second commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol to start in January 2013. For the second period, the EU has taken on an emissions reduction commitment in line with its domestic target of cutting emissions by 20 per cent of 1990 levels by 2020. If conditions are right the reduction could be increased to 30 per cent. 

“We can be pleased that we have maintained the momentum towards a new legally binding agreement for 2020 after the Kyoto Protocol has expired,” Davey said. 

“However, we still need countries to do more and be more ambitious about reducing their emissions if we are going to avoid irreversible climate change and prevent devastating global warming. 

Rich countries taking part in the Doha negotiations also agreed to provide compensation to poorer countries affected by climate change. 

WWF criticised the deal as “shamefully weak”. Samantha Smith, leader of WWF’s global climate and energy initiative, said: “What science tells us and what millions of people experienced this year is that fighting climate change is now extremely urgent. Every year counts, and every year governments do not act increases the risk to us all. 

“The acid test for these negotiations was real emissions cuts; real and concrete financial commitments for climate change; and the basis for a new global deal by 2015 that is both ambitious and equitable. But instead we got a shamefully weak deal, one that is so far away from the science that it should raise ethical issues for those responsible.”