United Nations Radio

Climate change talks being held in Bonn have failed to elicit commitments from industrial nations to drastically curtail their greenhouse gas emissions.

Climate change graphic

UN climate chief Yvo de Boer says the pledges made so far are well below the target for emissions reduction laid down by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

The proposals from more than 30 of the world's richest nations amount to a reduction in the range of 17 to 26 per cent of 1990 levels by 2020.

De Boer says "this is not enough to address climate change."

A proposal made by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate change in 2007 called for a 25 to 40 per cent reduction in order to reduce the risk of climate change caused by human activity.

The Bonn meeting is discussing new emission targets to be put in place after 2012 when the Kyoto Protocol on curbing greenhouse gas emissions expires.

The talks are designed to prepare the ground for the UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen in December which is intended to sign off on a successor agreement to the Kyoto Protocol.

Donn Bobb, United Nations Radio.

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