Cautious optimism after first week UN climate summit
The 16th UN summit on climate change began on Monday 29 November in Cancún (Mexico). After a week’s negotiations, the tone is cautiously positive. All countries want to avoid a confrontation and reach a balanced package of decisions. It is clear, however, that Cancún will not result in a coordinating binding agreement.
After several days of negotiations, it is clear that all country delegations want to all they can to prevent a confrontation scenario like at the previous climate summit in Copenhagen. The buzzwords that are constantly used are flexibility, pragmatism and constructive cooperation for a balanced package of decisions that will bring the world closer to a climate agreement.
Old bottlenecks
This does not change the fact that ‘old’ bottlenecks continue to dominate the debates and are causing a delay: the conflicting views of the developing countries and the developed countries, the tense relationship between China and the USA (the world’s two largest greenhouse gas emitters, without whom a climate agreement is pointless), the ideological discrepancy about the need for a new Kyoto protocol and the economic interests of OPEC countries.
The UN is after all a multilateral organisation that can only take decisions with unanimity of votes.
Arrival of ministers
After a week’s negotiations, the climate conference is in a crucial phase. The ministers of the Environment from all over the world are arriving to lead the negotiations during the conference’s second week. As Belgium chairs the Council of the European Union, Flemish Minister of Environment Joke Schauvliege will lead the EU delegation, together with European Commissioner Connie Hedegaard.
The first hardening of points of view could be felt at the end of the first week, which is a normal phenomenon for the ministerial aspect. The different parties do this to position themselves better and thus keep up the pressure.
Successor of Kyoto
One of the things that will be attempted at the Cancún summit is to find a possible successor to the Kyoto protocol. This is an international agreement that determines how much greenhouse gas countries are allowed to emit. During the previous summit in Copenhagen, this search stumbled over the issue of which countries would get targets enforced in the next internationally binding agreement.
From the start, it was clear that the summit in Cancún would not result in a covering agreement. This is why the emphasis lies more on technical dossiers enabling concrete action, such as counteracting deforestation, the ‘fast start’ financing of projects in developing countries or the development of a Green Fund for long-term financing. There is also a search for openings for a generally binding agreement that could be concluded at the next UN summit in South Africa.
