Brussels, 06/12/2011 (Agence Europe) - The UN climate conference in Durban (COP-17) entered its ministerial phase on Monday. Nonetheless, one would have to be pretty clever to predict the result of this conference, with three days to go before it comes to a close. The Polish presidency of the Council and the European Commission are both negotiating on behalf of the EU (EUROPE 10502). A European Parliament delegation led by Jo Leinen (S&D, Germany) is also hard at work.
Marcin Korolec, the Polish minister for the environment, declared during a joint press conference on Monday that, “this conference needs to achieve two key results: first we must agree on a roadmap and clear deadline for driving our legally binding global climate framework. The second key result we need is a balanced package of decisions that follows up the Cancun agreements. In short, the fight against climate change requires a strong package of decisions here in Durban. The European Union in Durban will do all it can to help the COP President to achieve that goal”. Connie Hedegaard, the European commissioner for climate action, has been bolstered by the experience she has acquired during previous international climate conferences (this is the eighth conference of the kind in which she has participated) and stated that the major ingredient for success in Durban remains political will. She informed the press that what is essential is the political will to do what is necessary by the end of the week but that they should avoid making any mistakes when entering into the fine details of the question because negotiations are extremely complex. In a reference to the many bilateral events organised, she added that, “time is short, problems are big and we need to agree”. “Europe firmly believes that the world has had enough time to think. We do not need more thinking. We need more action. We are ready to commit to a second commitment period even though the family of countries who are ready to so is shrinking. However we need reassurance that, if we lay down a bridge to the future, then some others will follow us, not now, we understand that, but soon and that is what a roadmap is about and that is why we need it with timelines. But it must be so, whether you are big or a small, country, whether you are rich or not so rich, whatever each of us pledges must have the same kind of legal value. And that is what the discussion about the future roadmap here in Durban is all about”. She said that this is not unfair or too much to ask and that it was simply a case of doing what had to be done now to ensure that temperature rises are below 2°C. At this stage, the US (which never ratified the Kyoto Protocol and does not intend to make any binding commitments to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions) appears increasingly isolated and China has provided a few indications that it is prepared to make a commitment in this context. (AN/trans/fl)