REPORTS: BONN CLIMATE CHANGE NEGOTIATIONS FALL INTO FAMILIAR HOLDING PATTERN

Tamar Hallerman
GHG Monitor
05/25/12

United Nations-sponsored climate talks in Bonn, Germany have regressed into a familiar pattern of finger-pointing and arguments over procedural issues, reports indicate. In the final hours of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change’s (UNFCCC) planning meeting late this week, news outlets reported that a rift between developed and developing nations reopened as climate negotiators representing nearly 200 countries were unable to agree on a chair for a new ad-hoc working group for the Durban Accords. Arguments also ensued over the agenda for the next high-level summit in Doha, Qatar this November, reports said, indicating that the future of the Durban platform—the agreement made by negotiators last year to finalize legally-binding emissions reduction targets for all countries by 2015 that will go into implementation in 2020—could be at risk. “We are very concerned that the spirit of cooperation that prevailed in Durban has not carried over into this session,” European Union negotiator Christian Pilgaard Zinglersen was quoted as saying by the Associated Press.

While much of the stalemate in Bonn appears to have been centered on technicalities, much of the debate on a deeper level focused on the commitment expected from rich and poor countries. Developing countries, including China and India, have advocated for developed countries like the United States and the European Union to make more emission reductions because of their level of historic emissions. Media reports indicated China and other developing nations were arguing that rich countries were looking to evade their historical responsibilities and promises made at Durban and in the Kyoto Protocol by holding up negotiations.

Meanwhile, developed countries argued that some of the world’s fastest developing economies, including China, India and Brazil also need to make significant emissions reductions pledges due to their current contributions to global warming. Media reports quoted negotiators from wealthy countries arguing that large developing countries like China were backsliding on the commitments they said they would make under the Durban platform. “There is distrust and there is frustration in the atmosphere,” Seyni Nafo, spokesman for a group of African countries, was quoted as saying by the Associated Press.

Rough Start

The infighting represents a rough start for the Durban platform in its first round of negotiations since delegates agreed to its creation last winter in South Africa. Leading up to Bonn, U.S. Special Envoy for Climate Change Todd Stern indicated his high hopes for the meeting, likely the last before Doha due to a lack of funding. In a conference call with reporters last month, Stern said he hoped negotiations would be able to move forward without much of the stalemate that has stunted the previous several UNFCCC meetings. “People are on the same page, I think, with regard to how the process ought to go with respect to the notion that there should be workshops, roundtables, papers and all the kinds of conceptual thinking that needs to be happening this year in a very concerted way so that the groundwork can to be laid to move on from that phase next year and beyond,” he said at the time.