Climate talks under a cloud

Friday, 14 December 2007

Climate talks in Bali, Indonesia reached agreement on a road map for future negotiations a day after the scheduled end. Indonesian ministers said nuclear power was to be part of their country's answer to climate change.

The 192-nation meeting under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) concluded on 15 December, it was attended by thousands of government and civil society delegates.

Parties agreed on a 'roadmap', outlining key areas for a new climate agreement to enter into force after 2012, the most crucial area being the scale of emissions cuts.

In Vienna this year the 176 national parties to the Kyoto Protocol officially recognised the report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and its warning that avoiding catastrophic climate change would require emission reductions in the range of 25-40% by developed countries. Many of those parties, and in particular the European Union, went to Bali intending to fix that range of reductions as a guideline for negotiations for the post-2012 agreement.

However, after opposition from countries such as Australia, Canada, Japan and the USA, the agreed text removed the references to a 25-40% reduction, that had been present in previous drafts, instead noting that "deep cuts in global emissions will be required to achieve the ultimate objective" of combatting climate change.

The US had wanted developing countries to agree to a stronger commitment to control their own greenhouse gas emissions. In the end what was agreed was text that stated that there should be "nationally appropriate mitigation actions by developing country Parties" and that "the problem of climate change cannot be adequately addressed through commitments for emissions cuts by developed countries alone".

Other deals have been agreed in Bali. One agreement reached concerned industrialised countries taking steps to promote, facilitate and finance the transfer of and access to 'environmentally sound' technologies and know-how.

Indonesian response

Discussing the future of the country's electricity supply at a side-event hosted by the World Nuclear Association, Evita Legowo, assistant to the minister of energy and mineral resources, said nuclear power was "essential to meeting the climate challenge."

Attendees heard that demand for electricity is projected to increase at 7.1% per year to 2026, with oil set to fuel about 24% of power generation. Electrification is progressing in rural areas where for many, the use of electrical appliances in the home is a symbol of social status.

Outlining Indonesia's plans to build four nuclear power reactors of about 1000 MWe by 2025, Legowo presented a timeline which would see his ministry put out one tender for the first two reactors in 2008. Construction of those units was pencilled in for 2011 and 2012 with operation in 2016 and 2017. Land on the Muria Peninsula in Central Java has been identified as a potential site for a nuclear plant.

Tenders for the third and fourth reactors would be put out in 2016. Those are envisaged as beginning operation in 2023 and 2024.

Preliminary deals have already been signed between Indonesia and South Korea, which is keen to exploit the export potential of the pressurized water reactors it has been developing.