Oct 12 2009
The penultimate negotiating session before the historic UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen in December wrapped up Friday in the Thai capitol Bangkok with progress made on what needs to constitute the "bricks and mortar" of the Copenhagen agreed outcome, but a continuing lack of clarity on key deliverables to make a successful international climate change deal workable.
"A will has emerged in Bangkok to build the architecture to rapidly implement climate action," said UNFCCC Executive Secretary Yvo de Boer, "but significant differences remain. In December, citizens everywhere in the world will have a right to know exactly what their governments will do to prevent dangerous climate change. It is time now to step back from self interest and let the common interest prevail," he added.
Parties made progress on the issues of adaptation, technology transfer and capacity building. They also reached agreement on technical issues such as forests, which according to UNEP's Science Compendium 2009 released in September, play a critical role in emissions reduction.
Whereas the parties made headway on how to assess the global warming potentials of new greenhouse gases and the number of options for strengthening the Kyoto Protocol's Clean Development Mechanism, there was little progress was made on the issue of mid-term emission reduction targets for industrialised countries. And clarity is lacking on the issue of finance that developing countries need to undertake additional actions to limit their emissions growth and adapt to the inevitable effects of climate change.
"A good example with regard to what industrialised countries can do to increase the level of their ambition in the context of an international agreement at Copenhagen is the minus 40% emissions reduction target announced by Norway today," the UN's top climate change official said.