Kyoto Protocol

Press conference by Chinese delegation

Durban, December 5: 
Q from The Independent: Any circumstances in which China will go for a legally binding global deal to cut emissions?

So far, multilateral talks have been going on for 20 years. Many countries have spent great efforts. The UNFCCC and KP are legally binding documents, all parties are working hard to implement consensus in the Copenhagen Accord. We need a review of all these efforts. We need to base future decisions on current actions and what has been achieved so far. We will consider 2020 only after that.

Words are becoming phrases: Can climate change discourse be ever untangled?

We are midway through the Durban conference and the search for a ‘transparent’, ‘comprehensive’, ‘balanced’, ‘credible’, ‘flexible’,  ‘accommodating’, ‘fair’,  ‘ambitious’ and ‘binding’ outcome is on. 

Half way house: divided we fall?

At 1 o’clock on December 3, 2011, halfway through CoP 17, the President of CoP 17 held a plenary to take stock of the work done so far. She first thanked the delegates for the “flexibility” they’d shown so far, thus “allowing work to happen”. She was pleased to inform the plenary that work on the Green Climate Fund (GCF) had progressed a lot: indeed, today was a crucial day in the GCF negotiations, such that the Chair wasn’t able to attend the ‘informal stocktaking’, as this particular briefing has been termed. She informed that after 2 rounds of informal consultations on GCF, “a number of countries are willing to accept a report”. 

New proposal by LDCs

Durban, December 2: As the UN climate change talks enter the 5th day in Durban, tempo in the negotiation rooms is gradually picking up.  While about 50 odd items are being discussed and the chairs of the different groups are trying to piece in the negotiating texts by Saturday, before the high level ministerial segment begins, the Least Developed Countries (LDCs) have proposed a middle-of-the-road solution to keep the climate change talks active. A draft proposal the LDCs submitted advocates a set of parallel treaties that will not only take into account emissions reduction targets for the Annex 1 parties but also for non-Kyoto parties like the United States and emerging economies like China and India.

Factsheet: Will the developed world meet their Kyoto Protocol target?

A report by the Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency says the developed world will meet their Kyoto Protocol target and blames India and China for the increase in global CO2 emissions in 2010. But that is not true. Read the analysis  that brings out the bias in the report

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Factsheet: The Cancun Conference of Parties

Was the Cancun CoP successful? What happened between Copenhagen and Cancun, that made countries vulnerable to climate change give their nod to the Cancun Agreement

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Factsheet: Will the Kyoto Protocol survive?

Countries are likely to debate on the fate of the Kyoto Protocol in the forthcoming Conference of Parties at Durban. How likely is a deal? Read more to find out what are the other issues on the table at Durban

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How to rewrite the Durban script

It’s that time of the year again. Climate change talks are heating up, with the next conference of parties scheduled in Durban in end-November. There is heat but no light. The negotiations are stuck despite the clear signs of climate change: dangerous and potentially catastrophic extreme weather events.

Will Bonn be as banal as Bangkok?

Mid-year climate negotiations kick-off in UNFCCC headquarters but there is too much on the plate to resolve

By Uthra

Climate change negotiators from all over the world will convene at Bonn over the next fortnight to resolve key deadlocks that led to the stalemate at Bangkok earlier this year after the initial euphoria over Cancun Agreements died down.

Major Polluters Say 2011 Climate Deal "Not Doable"

Date: April 28, 2011

The world's biggest greenhouse gas emitters do not expect a legally-binding deal to tackle climate change at talks in South Africa in December, two leading climate envoys said on Wednesday. U.S.

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