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U.N. conference to deal with carbon reductions
- Amid fresh warnings of climate-related disasters in the future, delegates from about 190 countries were gathering in Durban for a two-week conference beginning on Monday. They hope to break deadlocks on how to curb emissions of carbon dioxide and other pollutants.
- Hopes were scrapped for an overall treaty governing global carbon emissions after the collapse of talks at a climate summit in Copenhagen two years ago.
- The “big bang” approach has been replaced by incremental efforts to build new institutions to help shift the global economy from carbon-intensive energy generation, industries and transportation to more climate-friendly technologies.
- But an underlying division between rich and poor countries on the future of the 1997 Kyoto Protocol has stymied the negotiators.
