Russian scientists believe that the ongoing UN climate change conference in Copenhagen will produce no tangible results, a leading Russian expert said on Tuesday.
The 15th UN climate change conference, the result of two years of international talks on a binding treaty to cut global carbon emission, began in Copenhagen on December 7.
The conference, which brings together about 15,000 participants from 192 countries, will run until December 18. It has so far failed to produce a plan to fight global warming.
"The Copenhagen meeting will end in failure because they are only considering the traditional struggle against greenhouse gases," said Yury Izrael, director of the Institute of Global Climate and Ecology Studies, at a meeting between members of the Russian Academy of Sciences and President Dmitry Medvedev.
Izrael said the struggle against greenhouse gases had been going on for a very long time and was very expensive, requiring an estimated $19 trillion to be effective. He also proposed holding a separate conference where scientists would be able to express different opinions on climate change issues.
A number of developing countries proposed on Monday suspending the Copenhagen conference and resuming it in June in Bonn.
The developing countries plus China said they wanted talks to focus more on the Kyoto Protocol rather than on broader discussions on climate change.
As a result of G77-China pressure, the conference participants agreed that issues relating to the Kyoto Protocol would be considered first and would be of higher priority than a new climate accord.
The G77 is a loose association of developing 130 countries.
The Kyoto Protocol, a legally binding agreement restricting carbon emissions, expires in 2012. A new deal is needed to continue efforts beyond 2012.
MOSCOW, December 15 (RIA Novosti)
