Yvo de Boer, Executive Secretary of the UNFCCC reflects on the elements of a political deal required at Copenhagen

 

 

The final week of negotiations in Barcelona continued today, aiming to increase convergence, and streamline negotiating text ahead of the conference in Copenhagen – just a few weeks' away.

 

From the corridors

 

Reports from the ground are mixed. Some delegates voiced that discussions were repetitive or that some countries were sticking to historic positions. Others expressed concern that a legally binding document in Copenhagen was no longer technically feasible. One negotiations 'veteran' said 'There will not be a total failure, however. The political momentum generated for Copenhagen is too important to let go - we simply must seize it and succeed by creating a meaningful outcome.'

 

Barcelona to Britain

 

Focusing on the bridging 30 days between Barcelona and Bangkok, the UK Parliament today debated Copenhagen preparations. From the Houses of Parliament, Ed Miliband opened the debate by reasserting the UK Government's ambition for a Copenhagen deal that puts the world on a trajectory to a maximum global average temperature increase of two degrees and provides a fair deal for developing countries.

 

On the pace of negotiations progress, he acknowledged that 'the UN negotiations are moving too slowly'. He indicated that a political-binding agreement, with a timetable setting out the path to a full international treaty, was to be the major goal for the Copenhagen.

 

'I think the important thing about the agreement we now seek in December is that while it may be a political agreement it must lead, on a very clear timetable, to a legally binding treaty.

'We must have reduction commitments from developed countries. We also must have action from developing countries which translate into reduced quantities of emissions - not cuts in emissions, yet, from major developing countries before 2020 but real actions which contribute to the kind of peaking of global emissions which I think is a central part of this agreement.'