EU says Kyoto Protocol not enough to win climate battle

COPENHAGEN, Dec. 16 (Xinhua) -- A battle is brewing over the future of the Kyoto Protocol, with the European Union saying Wednesday it was not enough to curb climate change and an agreement that was legally binding for all was needed.

EU rotating president, Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt addresses a press conference during the high-level segment of the United Nations Framework Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen, Denmark, Dec. 16, 2009. (Xinhua/Zeng Yi)

Developing countries' are calling for the protocol to remain central to climate change negotiations.

Swedish Environment Minister Andreas Carlgren, speaking on behalf of the European Union at the high-level segment of the Copenhagen climate change talks, said the EU wanted a comprehensive agreement building on all essentials of the Kyoto Protocol.

"The Kyoto Protocol alone covers less than a third of global emissions and will not be enough to win the battle against climate change," he said.

"We must strive for an agreement that is comprehensive, more ambitious, with broader participation and legally binding for all," Carlgren said.

However, developing countries, notably G77 and African groups, have said the call for a comprehensive deal for all was aimed at dismantling the Kyoto Protocol and discarding the principal of "common but differentiated responsibilities" for climate change.

Nafie Ali Nafie, head of the Sudanese delegation, who spoke on behalf of G77 and China at the talks, said developed countries were "in favour of a single undertaking, which is much weaker than the protocol and will undermine and reinterpret the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the Kyoto Protocol".

He said developed countries intended to undermine the principles of "equity, common but different responsibilities and respective capabilities" by throwing away the Kyoto Protocol.

"Group 77 wishes to stress the need to maintain the two-track outcome that the Kyoto Protocol is an essential instrument," Nafie said.

The African group warned at a press conference on Monday that "killing the Kyoto Protocol is killing Africa".