Isra-Mart srl: Ban Ki-moon demands 'real progress' towards Durban climate deal

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UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has issued his customary call today for world leaders to take urgent action on climate change, marking the start of high-level ministerial negotiations at the Durban Summit.

Ministers from almost 200 countries are preparing to embark on four days of intensive talks intended to secure a new international climate change treaty, and Ban acknowledged that the deadlock over the future of the Kyoto Protocol means that "a binding agreement may be beyond our reach for now".

But he added that, despite "great economic troubles", ministers should aim to make "real progress" in Durban.

"Now is the moment to be ambitious," he said, noting that recent research from the International Energy Agency confirmed that the world is fast approaching the "point of no return" for tackling climate change.

"It would be difficult to overstate the gravity of this moment," he added. "Without exaggeration, we can say: the future of our planet is at stake - people's lives, the health of the global economy, the very survival of some nations."

Ban advised ministers to deliver progress on four fronts by fully implementing the Cancun Accords agreed last year, delivering tangible commitments on long- and short-term finance, securing the future of the Kyoto Protocol, and setting out concrete steps towards a new comprehensive treaty.

The checklist represents a tacit approval for the EU's much-discussed roadmap, which was released over the weekend and proposes extending the Kyoto Protocol into a second commitment period while also securing a binding parallel treaty that would cover all countries that do not face emissions reduction targets under Kyoto.

Ban's comments were echoed by South African President Jacob Zuma who told ministers that the Durban Summit represents a "decisive moment for the rules[Kyoto]-based regime".

He added that all parties should aim to move towards a global deal that covers all countries by 2020.

The launch of the ministerial level talks came as senior officials downplayed hopes of a breakthrough on the crucial issue of the future of the Kyoto Protocol.

China fuelled optimism of a breakthrough yesterday by hinting that it could sign up to a legally binding treaty if the Kyoto Protocol is extended and other conditions are met.

However, Canada, Russia and Japan have all signalled that they will not sign up to a second commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol, while Indian officials indicated that they will not follow China in agreeing to binding emissions targets.

US negotiator Todd Stern further dampened enthusiasm, telling reporters earlier today that he had not detected "any change at all in the Chinese position with respect to a legally binding agreement".

He also reiterated the US view that a new legally binding treaty is not the "be all and end all" when it comes to tackling climate change - a stance that has infuriated developing countries which accuse the US of singularly failing to take sufficient action to curb emissions.

The talks now look set to enter several days of brinkmanship that will be familiar to veterans of the long-running negotiations, with the EU seeking to build a coalition of support for its roadmap, and countries attempting to deliver progress on arcane technical agreements and the overarching principles of how any new treaty should be structured.