Cop 17: Decision time in Durban
As we reach the final day of the UN climate talks in Durban, the prospect of a legally binding treaty looks grim.
As we reach the final day of the UN climate talks in Durban, the prospect of a legally binding treaty looks grim.
With overnight talks reportedly making little progress and the world’s highest emitting countries seemingly intent on a deal that would not come into effect until 2020, hopes of a concrete accord are fading fast.
Nevertheless, the EU is remaining confident that it can push through the deal of its proposed roadmap towards a new global treaty, after forming an alliance with 120 countries, including Brazil, Japan, Canada and many African nations. The tentative proposal would involve the major emitters from both the developing and developed world signing a deal in 2015, which would be enforced come 2020.. A deal then is too late for the Least Developed Countries (LDCs) and the Alliance of Small Island States (Aosis), who are demanding that negotiations begin in January with the aim of being finalised before the year is out.
According to the Guardian, it would seem that initial reports claiming that US lead negotiator Todd Stern was in favor of the proposed EU roadmap were wide of the mark, this is despite Stern reacting positively to the notion on numerous occasions at a press conference yesterday. A statement released by Emily Cain, a spokesperson for the U.S. Department of State, attempted to dispel these reports by claiming that Stern said that the US “could support a process to negotiate a new climate accord. He did not say that the United States supports a legally binding agreement as the result of that process.”
The influential BASIC group, made up of Brazil, South Africa, India and China, after informal discussions last night are remaining adamant that negotiations should not commence until 2015, and again should not come into effect until after the current pledges to reduce emissions end in 2020, according to sources at the BBC. India are also said to be standing firm to their belief that only traditional developed nations should be included in the new treaty. This is despite the fact that a number of countries in the developing world have much higher incomes and higher per-capita emissions than at the time of 1997’s Kyoto agreement.
This morning Chris Huhne, the UK Climate Change Secretary, issued an eleventh hour rallying call to participating countries to act now if they are serious about a global treaty to mitigate to climate change. “We're reaching the point at which a number of delegations have got to decide whether they want to get a treaty with real environmental integrity or not,” he said. “There's now a very visible high-ambition coalition that stretches across the developed world, in Europe, and the developing countries, and the real issue is whether those that have been reluctant to join in with high ambition are prepared to do so.”
As the curtain begins to close on another year of UN climate negotiations the credibility of the overall UN process is at stake, as if another year passes without sufficient progress then serious questions have to be asked about a number of countries and their commitment to mitigating climate change. As it stands there is no legally binding agreement beyond 2012, the point that the 1997 Kyoto Protocol expires, and with as of yet no text or official document being worked on to either extend or strike a new deal in Durban, an agreement still seems far from becoming reality.
Image 01: UNclimatechange | Flickr
Image 02: Climate Action Stock Photos
Image 03: Climate Action Stock Photos