"We are back on track after a long way of struggling", resumed Hokkaido Fukuyama who in 1997 was right next to Kofi Annan while signing the then decided Kyoto Protocol. Referring to the reduced number of delegates - in Poznan 2008 a nearly unmanageble number of 10.000 people had gathered while now the group is limited to 32 delegates - he pictured: "In this group we will really come to new solutions."
A battle cry by advocates for strong action against climate change may see some hope in the "Yes, we can" by the US delegate Marius Peter Styczen who in his opening statement showed commitment to working together internationally and no longer isolating itself from international agreements in this area.
If one can judge by the opening statements of the different countries present, the following conflict lines will probably dominate the discussions: While the AOSIS and African countries need a rigorous reduction in CO2 emissions in order to survive (95% by 2050, with 1990 as a baseline), the oil producing countries such as Saudia Arabia and Russia do not show commitment to contribute to moving away from fossil-fuel based energy. They opt for new technologies rather than a change in energy consumption patterns. Whilst nobody was negating the need for the reduction of CO2 emissions, differences could be heard about the speed of reduction and also the path to go there.
Will developing countries also seriously commit to reducing CO2? Perhaps. China for example offered to stabilize its current emissions, though without legally committing to this goal. At the moment, the delegates are in committee discussions on Adaptation, Mitigation and Clean Development Mechanism - negotiating joint solutions for combatting climate change.
We will be posting as the situation evolves...
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a new solution, which would be?
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