News | 12.12.2007 | 13:00 UTC/ d.welle
Germany criticises US at climate conference
German Environment Minister Sigmar Gabriel has criticised the US position on climate issues. Speaking at the UN conference on climate change on the Indonesian island of Bali, Gabriel said Washington was blocking internationally binding targets in a new climate treaty. He said the world needed to agree on clear goals at the conference and one of them was the reduction by half of so-called greenhouse gases by the year 2050. To ensure that goal is reached, Gabriel said industrial countries had to cut their CO-2 emissions by 30 percent by 2020. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon said he was sceptical these targets could be agreed on, adding that it was more important to negotiate a new treaty to replace the Kyoto Protocol which expires in 2012.
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