Where are we up to with draft texts in Copenhagen?
As we head into the final frantic days of Copenhagen, all the work has boiled down to draft negotiating texts for the two streams of negotiations – the Kyoto stream and the non-Kyoto stream (known as KP and LCA, or long-term cooperative action). The two streams were separated at the Montreal meeting, after the Kyoto Protocol came into force, as a way of keeping non-Kyoto countries in the tent, but, if there is to be agreement here, the streams must now be brought together in a way which will satisfy the competing interests of all the countries and negotiating blocs involved.
A thumbnail sketch would show the world divided into three general blocs with broadly aligned positions:
Monday in Copenhagen at 2.45pm.
Crisis in Copenhagen: Climate Talks Suspended
Tensions are rising as developing countries again walked out of the talks because there is no progress on the Kyoto Protocol discussions. Instead priority is being given to the Long term Co-operative Action track (known as LCA). Developing countries want the Kyoto Protocol to continue and they see the actions of the EU, USA and Australia in demanding simultaneous action from developing countries, as a move to dump the Kyoto Protocol. By prioritising the LCA track the President is seen as favouring the powerful developed countries. This is a very bad look for the Danish government and seriously undermines any likelihood of a “political” outcome, let alone a legally binding one.
Australia‘s Reputation at stake on land use
Talks in Copenhagen are going backwards on protection of forests and accounting from emissions from land use. It seems that negotiations at the level of officials are stalled and everything depends on the Ministers arriving this week.