http://www.businessgreen.com/bg/news/2274388/un-climate-meeting-dealt-blow-as-key-talks-suspended

 

Mounting optimism that the UN's long-running climate change talks were making good progress in the run-up to the crucial Paris Summit in 2015 were dealt a major blow yesterday as a key negotiating track was suspended at the latest meeting in Bonn.

 

The UN's climate change secretariat, the UNFCCC, confirmed the Subsidiary Body for Implementation (SBI), which advises on the implementation of UN climate change agreements including commitments on climate funding and adaptation, had suspended talks after failing to agree an agenda for the talks that will be carried out in the run-up to this year's annual COP summit in Poland.

The UNFCCC stressed that good progress was still being made in two other negotiating tracks under way at the Bonn meeting this week, which are focused on a range of issues including climate adaptation and the roadmap towards agreeing a new international climate treaty in 2015.

However, the SBI talks were derailed after Belarus, the Russian Federation and Ukraine put forward a proposal to include fresh negotiations on procedural and legal issues in the negotiating track's upcoming agenda.

The proposal was rejected by other countries leading to a tense stand-off that ultimately forced chair of the SBI, Tomasz Chruszczow, to suspend the negotiations.

"Countries have between now and the beginning of the UN Climate Change Conference in Warsaw to unblock the situation so that relevant decisions can be taken at the meeting," he said. "It is essential that the time is used for discussions at the highest political level on how to resolve the issue so that this body can take forward its important work."

Observers said the intervention from Russia, Belarus and Ukraine was sparked by continued frustration on their part at the way in which last year's Doha Summit was managed. The three countries have repeatedly accused the UN of pushing through the extension of the Kyoto Protocol despite their objections and are now calling for the underlying rules governing the negotiations to be clarified.

Speaking to the Responding to Climate Change website this week, Russian representative Oleg Shamanov said that clarifying the legal framework underpinning the talks was vital if an international agreement is to be reached in 2015.

"We think that if we want to make normal decisions on the new agreement in 2015, we have to return to the legal framework," he said. "We cannot be blamed for delegations not willing to admit that."

But many other delegations expressed frustration at the stance of the three countries, warning that re-opening negotiations on procedurals would seriously delay the talks and undermine the chances of an agreement being reached in 2015.

UNFCCC executive secretary Christian Figueres acknowledged that the latest stand-off was "unfortunate", but she insisted "much good work has been accomplished under the other two bodies at these Bonn sessions of the UNFCCC".

"Governments here have made further progress towards the design of the new universal climate change agreement and on identifying ways to immediately respond to climate change so that the world stands a chance of staying below the agreed maximum 2 degrees Celsius temperature rise," she said in a statement.

Separately, it looks increasingly likely that Peru will be confirmed as host for next year's COP Summit. Both Venezuela and Peru were in the running to host the summit, but according to reports it is Peru that is set to secure the backing of the Latin American group of countries and become the latest country to host the annual summit.