Previous Negotiations

The United Nations Climate Change Conference met in Cancun, Mexico November 29 to December 10, 2010. The 16th Conference of the Parties (COP) and the sixth Conference of the Parties to the Kyoto Protocol (CMP) issued decisions that will lay the groundwork for new and enhanced ways to cooperation globally on climate change. Read more »

After a long battle to hold the issue of climate change from the summit’s agenda, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper made clear that the issue was a top priority for the world's richest countries. G8 leaders similarly promised to put in place their respective fast-start finance contributions to help address the most urgent and immediate needs of the most vulnerable developing countries. Ironically, while the rhetoric of world leaders seemed committed, no new commitments to address the issue of climate change were made at this meeting.

Pressure from the Obama administration helped to eliminate the word "voluntary" from the agreement reached by the top 20 industrialized and emerging nations regarding fossil fuel subsidies. However, the talks produced little to no progress on the broader issue of generating funds for climate financing and failed to take advantage of the critical opportunity to shift financial resources from fossil fuel subsidies into clean energy investments.

This was the first meeting since Copenhagen where full negotiations took place. During all but the closing plenary of the Long Term Cooperative Action (LCA) track, where the chair introduced a ‘non-paper’ that many Parties felt was “unbalanced,” there was very little contention over process or posturing, and progress was made on a few key issues such as finance and MRV.

This UNFCCC intercessional is the first gathering of negotiators since the Copenhagen climate summit in December 2009. Though it is a procedural meeting, the two-day session has the important task of deciding meetings, priorities, and dates for the 2010 global climate negotiations calendar. Another of the primary points of interest that delegates will attempt to tackle is how to fit the Copenhagen Accord into the nearly 20-year long U.N. climate negotiating process.

While this highly anticipated climate summit failed to secure a legally binding agreement, the Copenhagen Accord does include an aspirational goal of keeping global temperature rise below 2 degrees Celsius. So far, over 80% of global emissions are covered under the accord. Read more »

Barcelona Climate Talks Yield One Result: More Time for White House

By Keith Schneider
U.S. Climate Action Network
BARCELONA, Nov. 5 –It’s been 30 years since scientists gained a clear understanding of the dangerous consequences of continuously adding more carbon dioxide to the atmosphere. This week during the five days of negotiations in Barcelona the world learned again that the formula for solving global warming is a diplomatic chemistry problem that still defies a solution. Read More

Just days after Climate Week NYC and the G-20 Summit ended in Pittsburgh on September 25, negotiators working to draft a new global climate change agreement met three days later, on September 28, in Bangkok for the start of two weeks of meetings. As in New York and in Pittsburgh, as well as in the previous international negotiating sessions leading to the peak meeting in Copenhagen in December, the talks have been slowed by the reluctance of many countries, including the planet’s big polluters, to set firm limits on climate changing emissions.

The other singularly significant impediment is deciding how much financial help will be available from wealthier nations, among them the United States, to assist poorer countries in making the transition to cleaner and greener economies. Though the Obama administration has expressed support for a new climate treaty that addresses emissions limits and financing for poor nations, it has been cautious in its approach.

During the negotiations, the U.S. Senate began considering climate and clean energy legislation co-sponsored by Democratic Senators Barbara Boxer and John Kerry. Activism in support of a new global agreement further mounted nationwide, especially in the business community. A number of prominent American companies – Nike, Apple, PG&E among them – have openly broken with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce on climate change and called for national and international climate action.

President Obama and foreign leaders met at the United Nations in New York and the G-20 Summit in Pittsburgh during the third week of September 2009 to chart a new path for economic prosperity, clean energy development, and environmental security. They were greeted by thousands of Americans who demonstrated their support for the transition to a clean energy economy and taking strong action to reduce global warming pollution.

The meetings set the stage for final negotiations on a global deal to combat climate change in Copenhagen in December. USCAN was in both cities, documenting events with our video crews, and managing the G-20 Media Center in collaboration with TckTckTck, Oxfam, Environmental Defense Fund and World Wildlife Fund.