18 August 2009 | Luca Del Buono

 

The informal talks under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) on 10-14 August were intended to cut down the negotiating text, which swelled to over 200 pages after the last talks in Bonn in June.

Only "selective" progress was made to consolidate the huge text, according to UNFCCC Executive Secretary Yvo de Boer stated.

"If we continue at this rate, we are not going to make it," he warned.Anders Turesson, climate negotiator for Sweden, which holds the EU's rotating presidency, agreed that progress is too slow.

He argued that a dramatic change of gear will have to happen at the next round of talks in Bangkok in late September if a deal in Copenhagen is still in the cards.

Funding for climate change mitigation and adaptation in developing countries remains the main stumbling bloc.

Poor countries that are just going through with industrialisation insist that rich nations have a historical responsibility for climate change and should assist them in acquiring technologies needed to halt greenhouse gas emissions.

But the EU and other industrialised countries want the developing countries to chip in, at the very least, by compiling national emission reduction strategies, before they put any money on the table.

Another central disagreement remains the scale of each party's contribution to emissions reductions in the spirit of the principle of common but differentiated responsibility.

Little progress was made however last week to define the respective responsibilities.

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Source: EurActiv.com

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