Climate change talks have proven a disappointment, it must be admitted, especially in view of the warnings made and expectations raised over the last decade. Now, significantly smaller steps toward progress are expected, and largely based on very difficult bargaining between governments rather than broader negotiations. Still, the progress is slow. The international financial crisis created another set of priorities in many capitals. However, as the crisis has started to fade, I’m afraid that momentum on climate negotiations has not rejuvenated. It would appear to some that the financial crisis has served as also a means to divert the globe from the urgency and substance of climate change. Climate change has been reduced into a process, and a rather slowing moving one. Urging More Urgency to Negotiations The top United Nations climate change official today urged governments to step up the pace of negotiations on the further reduction of emissions of the hazardous greenhouse gases blamed for global warming, ahead of the next UN climate change conference in Durban, South Africa, in December. (From UN News Centre) Christiana Figueres, the Executive Secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), said States needed to agree on the strengthening of international conditions to allow nations to work together to make deeper global emission cuts. Ms. Figueres, the top United Nations climate change official, urged governments to step up the pace of negotiations on the further reduction of emissions of the hazardous greenhouse gases blamed for global warming, ahead of the next UN climate change conference in Durban, South Africa, in December “This means confronting the open political question of the future of the Kyoto Protocol, the only agreement today that captures binding commitments by industrialized countries,” The Kyoto Protocol is an addition to the UNFCCC that contains legally binding measures to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and whose first commitment period is due to expire next year. Negotiations on the second commitment phase of the Protocol continue. “What governments have very clear before them is that they’re already facing the possibility of a regulatory gap [on the new phase of the protocol] and the more they delay that, the more firm the regulatory gap will be. So I don’t expect that they will choose to extend that. My sense is there will be a lot of political commitment… but that is really going to be the top political issue for this year,” Road to Urban (South Africa) Talks Governments also needed to design the new climate institutions that will provide adequate and efficient climate support to developing countries, including the green climate fund, the technology mechanism, and the setting up of the climate change adaptation committee, she added. Outside of the negotiations process, Ms. Figueres said there were encouraging climate change trends, including a move, even by large economies towards new policies that promote low-carbon growth. The private was also increasingly investing in low-carbon business and renewable energy. “So in Durban, governments need to take further steps to drive both of those very important trends and faster … the pace of the negotiations is going slower than science demands and the level of ambition is lower than science demands.” Let the Other Guy Do It – Science Will Come up With Something! Unfortunately, I share Ms. Figuerres concerns as expressed in the last sentence. On the other hand, I do not see the same optimism in the process under way now. Maybe it is something that will have to be a product of private enterprise and science, but I think the climate change political agenda of most states now is based upon the notion “let the other guy do it first.” The science agenda is not much more promising as it’s founded upon, “well, something good will happen!” Maybe the promising opportunity for change is that fossil fuels, in particular petroleum is pricing itself out of favor especially when gasoline subsidies are taken into consideration in some developing economies (as China, Malaysia). Related Reports: ---“Renewable Energy to Become Dominant Source, Soon?” - diplomaticallyincorrect.org/films/blog_post/renewable-energy-to-become-dominant-source-soon-by-ambassador-mo/27861 ---“Climate Change (Impact on Small Island States)” - diplomaticallyincorrect.org/films/movie/un-climate-agenda/20920 ---“Zero Emission Car Wins Race” - diplomaticallyincorrect.org/films/movie/0-emission-wins-car-racetony-curtis-wins-girl/25081 By Ambassador Muhamed Sacirbey Face Book at “Diplomatically Incorrect” Twitter - DiplomaticallyX