Isra-Mart srl:UK wants central role for business in Cancun

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The UK's negotiating team for next week's Cancun climate change summit has signalled that it wants to see the global business community play a central role in the crucial talks, insisting that support from the private sector is vital if progress towards an international deal is to be delivered.

Speaking to reporters earlier today, climate change minister Greg Barker said he would act as a liaison between business leaders and the negotiators as part of an effort to improve upon previous UN summits where the "voice of the private sector has not been sufficiently heard".

He acknowledged that while there has been "scepticism and in some cases outright hostility" among some developing countries to the role of the private sector in tackling climate change, the UK would make the case that private finance will be critical to the development of a global low carbon economy and would not be used to replace government funding.

Barker said vocal support from the business sector could help revive the negotiations following the deadlock at the end of the Copenhagen Summit.

"What we need to get out of this round of talks is a sense of momentum," he said. "The central question is whether the drive to a low carbon economy is compatible with prosperity and economic growth - we think it can be done and can actually help drive economic growth."

The negotiating text will not be directly changed to give business leaders a more central role, but Energy and Climate Change Secretary Chris Huhne said he was hopeful the summit would deliver progress in a number of areas that will throw up new business opportunities.

Most notably, he expressed optimism the talks could see agreement on the final outline of a deal on forestry protection mechanisms and the formation of a new international green fund to distribute climate financing that could combine public and private sector funding.

He also said the UK would be looking for a number of multilateral agreements with "progressive developing countries" that would demonstrate how a mixture of public and private finance can effectively drive low carbon and climate adaptation projects.

Huhne reiterated the UK "is not expecting a final agreement in Cancun", but he insisted the groundwork done by the Mexican hosts suggested agreements could be reached on forestry and financing that could then be finalised when other issues are addressed at next year's talks.

He also said the UK was hoping to see some progress on a number of the more contentious issues in the negotiating text.

In particular, he said the EU would push for the targets contained in the Copenhagen deal to be formally recognised in the UN negotiating process. He also said he remained hopeful that countries such as China that are opposed to measurement, reporting and verification (MRV) measures on the grounds that they represent an infringement of their sovereignty may be willing to shift their position, given they are already signed up to other international treaties that are more invasive.

He concluded that the UK negotiating team would not be armed with "a lot of difficult red lines" and would regard the talks as a success as long as they deliver clear progress towards a deal that can be finalised next year.

"The last thing we want is a confrontational shambles that ends in a lot of name calling," he said.

The news comes on the same day as the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) Finance Initiative announced that it will host a major new business summit alongside the main Cancun talks dubbed the World Climate Summit.

The conference – which UNEP describes as "the beginning of a new, open and collaborative global 10-year framework dedicated to helping governments, businesses and financiers accelerate solutions to climate change" – will take place on December 4-5 in Cancun and will be attended by representatives from over 300 of the world's largest firms, including Richard Branson and Ted Turner.

"As world leaders drive towards a global agreement on climate change, investors in the world's capital markets cannot afford to simply sit and wait," said Paul Clements-Hunt, Head of the UNEP Finance Initiative. "Investors and other financial institutions are determined to work with policy-makers to catalyse new low carbon markets worth trillions of dollars. The World Climate Summit will bring finance, business and negotiators together to help make those future low carbon markets a reality."