UN Official Certain Of Success At Copenhagen

UN Official Certain Of Success At Copenhagen Climate Summit, With Us On Board

New York, Nov 19 2009 5:10PM With just 17 days left before the United Nations climate change summit in Copenhagen, a top UN official today predicted success for a framework accord including specific reduction targets from the United States, the only hold-out among industrialized nations, with a formal treaty to follow within six months.

“There is no doubt in my mind whatsoever that it [Copenhagen] will yield a success,” the Executive Secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), Yvo de Boer, told a news conference in New York, saying President Barack Obama’s presence in the Danish capital “would make a huge difference.”

As the three main points that must come out of Copenhagen, he cited individualized targets “in black and white” by industrialized States to reduce global warming greenhouse gas emissions by 2020, a list of actions by developing nations, and clear short- and long-term financing to support developing countries on both mitigation and adaptation.

A numerical mid-term target and a commitment to financial support from the US are essential “and I believe it can be done,” he said, calling for more ambitious targets from industrialized countries “to get us into an emission reduction range that science tells us will help us avoid severe impacts” from global warming and severer weather patterns.

“I’ve seen some recent reports that say that Copenhagen has failed even before it starts and I must say that those reports are simply wrong.” He cited new commitments and pledges coming in “almost every day” from both industrialized and developing countries, including Brazil, the Republic of Korea and Japan.

The political leadership that so many heads of State and government promised at the September climate summit at UN Headquarters in New York “is alive, it is well and it will lead to success in Copenhagen,” he declared.

“Rich countries must put at least $10 billion [for technology and other aid to developing countries] on the table in Copenhagen to kick-start immediate action, and they must list what each individual country will provide and how funds will be raised to deliver very large, stable and predictable finance into the future without having to constantly renegotiate the commitments every few years.”

The summit also needs to launch immediate action for international cooperation on the pressing needs to preserve and sustain forests, he said, noting: “If the lungs of the world collapse, the rest will die.”

Finally, governments must agree in a tight deadline to finalize it all into a legal treaty, he added, “and that means no delay, no more long drawn-out process. For all this Copenhagen will be the turning point where talking about action stops and taking action begins.” Originally it had been hoped that the treaty could emerge at the summit, set to begin on 7 December.

On financing for developing countries, Copenhagen must provide much more clarity as to who will be contributing what, “because another collective pledge that leaves unclear what individual shares of that pledge are doesn’t really help you very much,” stressed Mr. de Boer.

Asked about the position of the US, which never ratified the 1997 emission reduction treaty known as the Kyoto Protocol, he replied: “I think that President Obama has shown incredible courage and leadership… He wants a strong domestic policy in this area not just because of climate change, but also because of issues of energy security and energy prices… he wants a deal in Copenhagen.”

Mr. Obama was now focusing on health care and climate change will come up early next year, but “having said that, I am confident that the President of the United States can come to Copenhagen with a target and with a financial commitment,” he added.

ENDS

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