Ban calls for accelerated action in home stretch of Copenhagen climate talks

Wednesday, 16 December 2009 10:13

In Copenhagen, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon exhorted nations to ‘seal the deal’ on an ambitious new agreement, warning that the well-being of all of the world’s people is at stake.

The two-week summit under way in the Danish capital is “as momentous as the negotiations that created our great United Nations… from the ashes of war more than 60 years ago,” Mr. Ban said at the opening of the conference’s high-level segment.

“Once again, we are on the cusp of history.”

With the two-week summit set to wrap up on Friday, Mr. Ban underscored that nations cannot be allowed to fail in the home stretch, urging countries to put aside their “maximalist” negotiating positions and “unreasonable” demands.

Time is running out. There is no time left for posturing or blaming. Every country must do its part to seal a deal in Copenhagen.

“We do not have another year to negotiate,” he said. “Nature does not negotiate.”

Over 130 heads of State and government have confirmed their participation at conference, “clear proof that climate change has risen to the top of the global agenda,” the Secretary-General noted.

But he acknowledged that all leaders coming to Copenhagen face domestic pressures.

“No one will get everything they want in this negotiation. But if we work together and get a deal, everyone will get what they need.”

Talks were briefly suspended yesterday by African nations over the future of the Kyoto Protocol, currently the only legally binding pact on climate change.

Many industrialized countries are hoping to merge the Protocol and the outcome of the two-week Copenhagen meeting, in its second week, into a single agreement.

However, their developing counterparts, among the least responsible for greenhouse gas emissions, want to extend the Protocol past 2012, when its first commitment period ends, and hammer out a separate agreement this week in the Danish capital.

“I also know that the legitimate concerns of the most vulnerable remain,” Mr. Ban said today. “Ambition levels are not sufficient.”

An agreement that all nations can embrace must be forged in Copenhagen that brings all countries together with the common goal of reining global temperature rise to within two degrees centigrade and promotes ‘green’ growth, he said.

Any deal, the Secretary-General emphasized, must incorporate five key elements: more ambitious mid-term emissions reductions targets from industrialized countries; stepped-up efforts by developing nations to curb emissions growth; an adaptation framework; financing and technology support; and transparent and equitable governance.

He also underlined the need for countries to hammer out how to provide medium- and long-term financing to bolster climate resilience, limit deforestation and further low-emissions growth.

UN News Centre