Isra-Mart srl:UN: Cancun can still deliver climate deals

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The UN's climate change chief yesterday sought to build optimism ahead of the crucial Cancun Climate Summit, insisting all indications suggested the two-week meeting could deliver a number of significant international agreements.

"At this point, everything I see tells me that there is a deal to be done," Figueres said at a press briefing at the UN climate secretariat's headquarters in Bonn.

Figueres acknowledged that the Cancun summit, which starts on 29 November and will involve officials from almost 200 countries, will not result in a binding international treaty to replace the Kyoto Protocol as was anticipated at last year's Copenhagen summit.

However, she expressed confidence that ministers could deliver an interlocking set of deals that would lay the foundations for a binding treaty at next year's summit in Johannesburg.

In particular, Figueres said she was optimistic "a mutually agreeable deal to get action started" could be reached on four fronts: climate adaptation measures; clean technology transfer to poorer nations; forestry protection; and the creation of an international climate fund.

She said negotiations around each of these areas were being fuelled by a renewed sense of pragmatism among diplomats who are now focusing on delivering each of the components that would make up an international treaty, rather than trying to deliver a wide-ranging deal in one go.

"Countries have actually learned for themselves... that there is no such thing as one all-encompassing solution," she said. "They also seem to be setting out to develop the building blocks upon which they can build realistic action on the ground, because countries really need results on the ground right now. And I don't see them veering away from that in any sudden way."

However, she also warned that even in areas where there was a general consensus about the need for action, significant barriers remained.

Most notably, she revealed that there was disagreement over whether the new international "green fund" should be launched in Cancun with the precise details about how it will work finalised at a later date, or whether diplomats should continue to work on how the institution will be designed.

The US is reportedly pushing for the design to come first, once again putting it on a collision course with many nations that want to see the fund launched as soon as possible.

Figueres insisted however that "the differences that are still on the table can be ironed out" at the Cancun summit. "There is consensus about the need to establish a fund, there is also consensus about the need to have a trustee and to have a government structure around the fund," she added.

Figueres also acknowledged that major differences remained between the key negotiating teams on a number of significant issues, including emissions targets, how to verify emissions reductions, and the future of the Kyoto Protocol post-2012.

The US and China show little sign of ending the deadlock over emission targets, prompting Figueres to call on nations to deliver some form of compromise in Cancun.

"[Negotiators should] balance their expectations so everyone can carry home a positive achievement while allowing others to do the same," she said. "That's how multilateral agreements are made elsewhere and it's how it has to happen in climate, too."

Figueres' comments come as world leaders gather today in Seoul for the start of the latest G20 Summit.

Global economic recovery and protectionism are expected to once again dominate the agenda, but leaders are also expected to discuss progress on their previous commitment to phase out fossil fuel subsidies.

Business and environmental groups have warned that very few concrete steps have been taken to phase out the $557bn (£345bn) of annual fossil fuel subsidies provided to carbon-intensive industries, despite the G20 previously committing to address the issue.

The International Energy Agency this week reiterated its call for an end to fossil fuel subsidies as the most effective means of cutting global greenhouse gas emissions, while the Business 20 group of multinationals also urged world leaders to quickly phase out subsidies and introduce a robust price on carbon to drive investment in clean energy.