Lula At Cancun: "We Don't Even Know If Foreign Ministers Are Going" - AFP

[hatrack]

World climate talks struck a sour note on their third day Wednesday as Japan was accused of weakening the campaign for a post-2012 treaty by retreating from the landmark Kyoto Protocol.

With negotiators laboring to unblock a complex, interlinked two-track process, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva meanwhile predicted the 12-day meeting "won't result in anything." "No big leader is going, only environment ministers at best. We don't even know if foreign ministers are going. So there won't be any progress," Lula, who himself decided not to travel to Mexico, told reporters in Brasilia.

Green groups reacted with concern after Japan on Monday spelt out its opposition to renewing pledges under the Kyoto Protocol, the cornerstone UN pact on global warming. It said it did not plan to renew its carbon-cutting pledges when Kyoto's current roster of promises expire at the end of 2012.

In an argument it has repeated over nearly a year, Japan says Kyoto's targeted carbon constraints are unfair and ineffective in the present arrangements for tackling global warming.

EDIT

http://www.terradaily.com/reports/Climate_talks_hit_bump_as_Lula_expects_no_result_999.html