Third round of climate change talks brings Cancun deal no closer

Aug 6, 2010, 16:39 GMT

Bonn - A third round of climate change talks in Bonn has brought little prospect of reaching a new deal at a UN summit in Mexico later this year, as a week of discussions ended on Friday without progress.

The UN's new climate change chief, Christiana Figueres, urged governments to 'agree to further compromises' in the coming months in order to 'deliver clear and unmistakeable progress' in the city of Cancun.

From November 29 to December 10, the Mexican resort city is to host the first UN climate change summit after last year's disappointing meeting in Copenhagen.

Delegates in Bonn worked on new proposals for partial agreements to be reached in Cancun, but made no progress on binding targets to reduce carbon dioxide emissions, or on the shape of a future deal to replace the Kyoto Protocol which expires 2012.

'It's hard to cook a meal without a pot, and governments are much closer now to actually making the pot,' Figueres said optimistically.

'However governments also need to decide what exactly they are going to cook in the pot,' Figueres added. 'To receive the desired outcome in Cancun they must radically narrow down the choices that are now on the table.'

Individual agreements reached in Cancun could include issues such as forest protection, financial aid to help developing nations adapt and mitigate the effects of climate change as well as the delivery of low-carbon technologies to such countries.

However, an overarching agreement would still be necessary to implement any decisions reached in Cancun. Such a deal is looking unlikely to emerge before the 2012 UN climate change summit in South Africa.

Developing countries said a lack of transparency regarding the disbursement of emergency funds by rich countries, as agreed in Copenhagen, made it hard for them compromise on any future deals.

US climate change legislation has stalled in the Senate, where it has met with fierce opposition, making it unclear to other states to what extent they can expect the US to cooperate on any new pledges.

It also remained unclear whether to aim for a single document replacing the Kyoto Protocol, or formulate a set of agreements. Delegates have also begun considering the possibility of extending the Kyoto Protocol until a replacement exists.

Environmental groups criticized the dragging progress, with just one further round of preliminary talks scheduled before November, in the Chinese city of Tianjin.

'The climate negotiators here seem oblivious to what is going on around them: Russia is on fire and Pakistan is drowning - yet they seem happy to continue as if they have all the time in the world,' said Wendel Trio of Greenpeace.