Commonwealth leaders seek momentum for climate deal

By Pascal Fletcher

PORT OF SPAIN (Reuters) - Rich and poor states grouped in the Commonwealth and representing a quarter of the world's population hope to create critical momentum toward a global climate deal when they meet in the Caribbean this week.

Leaders of the 53-member Commonwealth, a group of mostly former British colonies, gather in Trinidad and Tobago from Friday in the last major international summit before high-level U.N. climate change talks due in Copenhagen on December 7-18.

They have placed the climate issue at the top of their agenda in Port of Spain, along with measures to beat the global recession and democracy-building.

They will be joined in Trinidad by U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, French President Nicolas Sarkozy and Danish President Lars Lokke Rasmussen, who want to use the Commonwealth gathering to cement an international consensus on cutting greenhouse gas emissions and limiting global warming.

Although most nations have given up hopes of agreeing to a binding legal treaty text in Copenhagen, the Commonwealth is viewed as an important microcosm in which to align such a consensus on a far-reaching climate pact.

"They want to clinch a deal, as much as possible ... at least try and build consensus and keep the smaller states on board," Victoria teVelde, director of the Commonwealth Policy Studies Unit, a University of London think tank, told Reuters.

The sought-after treaty to fight global warming, now expected to be adopted as a final text only next year, will replace the Kyoto Protocol that expires in 2012.

TeVelde said the leaders of the Commonwealth, which includes many small island states that fear rising sea levels caused by global warming could threaten their future existence, were expected to issue a firm and clear statement in favor of reducing global carbon pollution and how best to achieve this.