Laying the Ghosts of Copenhagen to Rest

Published December 08, 2010

There is definitely a marked difference in not only the security detail at the COP16 climate change negotiations in Cancun this week, but also the tone of the proceedings. With ministers arriving later this week, if not already, the pressure is on the country delegations to conclude the various negotiation streams before they arrive.

During Saturday's COP plenary, an informal stocktaking of the proceedings, the Mexican government expressed a firm belief that good progress was being made in some areas. They were also very keen to reiterate that there were definitely no parallel negotiating processes, laying to rest the ghosts of the Copenhagen negotiation process, which was haunted by the Danish text and secret negotiations between the U.S. and developing countries that led to the Copenhagen Accord. The Mexican government emphasized that countries had found areas of common understanding, but that there still needed to be ongoing dialogue to effectively bridge the gaps.

With the conclusion of the Subsidiary Body for Implementation (SBI) and Subsidiary Body for Scientific and Technology Advice (SBSTA) negotiating streams last week, which focus on process and the technical issues of the UNFCCC climate change negotiating process, progress had been made in some key areas. This includes standardized baselines, for example, and their likely inclusion in the Clean Development Mechanism, which could allow greenhouse gas emission reduction projects in underrepresented technologies and regions to be scaled up. There is also the possible inclusion of Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) projects in the CDM, which has been a hotly debated topic for about the past six years in these negotiations.

However, there is still much more to be done across the remaining negotiating streams. Even with the notion that Cancun is a stepping stone on the way to possibly achieving an overarching deal in South Africa in 2011, there are likely to be some very late nights over the coming days in order to get everything done.

One of the major themes during my previous blogs has been the necessary engagement of business in this process in order to ensure that private sector finance can be effectively mobilized in the fight against climate change. Over the past few days, there have been several side conferences including Green Solutions and World Business Day, a joint initiative by the International Emissions Trading Association and the World Business Council for Sustainable Development. These events examined in more detail how the business community can come together to continue driving the ongoing sustainability agenda and transition to a low carbon economy.

Indeed briefings on Monday by both the chair of the SBI and Mexican President Felipe Calderón clearly emphasized the importance of the business community in developing climate change solutions. The SBI briefing went so far as to mention the possibility of developing formal avenues through which stakeholders could provide input for the climate change negotiation process at some point in the future.

Today marks the point at which many of the ministers will be arriving in Cancun. Let's hope that their impending arrival will provide the necessary catalyst to move forward on some of the strategic areas of the negotiations which still need to be finalized.

Image by Neil Palmer, CC licensed by Flickr user CIAT - International Center for Tropical Agricultu.

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