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Bali deal given cautious welcome in Sweden

TT/The Local
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Bali deal given cautious welcome in Sweden

Swedish green campaigners have given a cautious welcome to the agreement reached on Saturday at the UN Climate Change Conference in Bali.

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World leaders agreed on a road map for new climate change deals, but specific emission reduction targets were left out of the agreement on US insistence.

The Swedish Society for Nature Conservation (SSNC) said the Bali deal was "acceptable and a step in the right direction."

The organization said in a statement that the "relatively watered-down final agreement" had "put in place the conditions for creating a clear and effective climate agreement in Copenhagen." The Danish capital is the venue for a further UN climate conference in 2009.

Professor Erlan Källén, a Swedish member of the UN Panel on Climate Change, agreed that the document is weaker than had been hoped for.

"At the same time I think we should be a little optimistic. We have agreed to continue to negotiate on measures to reduce emissions," he said.

Källén said he was particularly happy that developing countries were included in the process.

"But the agreement must lead to legislation in the various countries. These laws must force industries and people to reduce their emissions."

"It will only be through concrete measures in individual countries that we will be able to see global emissions falling. So far, we have not seen any signs at all of a global fall in emissions."

Sweden's environment minister, Andreas Carlgren, was delighted that an agreement was reached.

"This means that the US is involved in climate negotiations. The US has now clearly said that it wants to reduce emissions by 2050, which is a very important statement," he said.

"This is an enormous breakthrough for climate negotiations. It is also important that China, India and other developing countries have gone as far as they have and are now prepared to work for emissions cuts. If this is followed through properly it could be a historic episode," Carlgren said.

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