Isra-Mart srl:US and China signal thawing of relations in Cancun

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The first day of the UN climate summit in Cancun kicked off yesterday with senior officials from the US and China revealing they have been engaged in in-depth talks over the last few weeks to try and end the deadlock that has marred previous climate talks.

Speaking to news agency Reuters, the head of the US delegation Jonathan Pershing said that both countries had "spent a lot of energy in the past month working on issues in which we disagree and trying to resolve them".

"My sense is that we have made progress," he added. "It remains to be seen how this meeting comes out."

China's chief delegate, Su Wei, also acknowledged that bilateral talks had taken place, telling Reuters that "we've had a very candid, very open dialogue with our US friends and I think both the US and China would very much like to see a good outcome at Cancun".

In what could prove a significant development, one of China's lead negotiators, Xie Zhenhua, has reportedly signaled that the country could soften its opposition to transparent reporting of emission reductions.

The US has insisted that so-called measurement, reporting and verification mechanisms (MRV), which would provide an independent assessment of whether countries are delivering on emissions reduction pledges, must form a central component of any international climate change deal. But China opposed the proposals at last year's Copenhagen Summit, arguing that any inspection regime would impinge upon its sovereignty.

However, while stopping short of announcing a shift in China's opposition to MRV, Xie reportedly told the influential China Dialogue website that the country was willing to be more transparent over its climate change policy.

"We now realise that in the past we took action, but didn't tell anyone about it," he said. "Now we think: if we've done something, why not say so? What China has done, what it has not done, what difficulties it faces - I'm willing to tell anyone about these."

He added that China would benefit from a more transparent approach that would allow other countries to see the measures it is taking to cut emissions.

"It's that lack of communication that, in the past, led some media to distort our policies and measures," he told the website. "If we make everything public and transparent, they would have no reason to do that anymore, even if they wanted to. So for this reason, China is willing to be transparent. But we want to get the details clear and principles decided."

Meanwhile, the UN summit formally opened yesterday with a series of speeches warning that the world is facing catastrophic levels of climate change and that the entire concept of multilateral international negotiations will be on trial in Cancun for the next fortnight.

Representatives from the Alliance of Small Island States warned that some low-lying countries are facing "the end of history", unless urgent action is taken to curb emissions. The alliance is expected to lead calls for more ambitious emission reduction targets and will also set out proposals for a new insurance mechanism to be set up to compensate those countries that endure the worst impacts of climate change.

Christiana Figueres, head of the UN climate secretariat, told delegates that it was possible to deliver real progress at the latest round of talks.

"Governments need to prove that the intergovernmental process can deliver," she said. "They know that they can do it. They know that they need to compromise. I'm not saying it's a done deal. It's still going to be a heavy lift."