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The Bonn session of the United Nations climate negotiations closed today with some new ideas on the table but only marginal progress towards a climate change deal,
Bonn (16 June 2008)– Slowed by Canada’s delay tactics the UN negotiations have made small progress, say the reps from the Climate Action Network-Canada who are following the negotiations.
“Canada is undermining negotiations by insisting that its weak domestic climate change policies be accepted as the basis for future commitments under Kyoto,” said Dale Marshall, climate change policy analyst for the David Suzuki Foundation. “Canadian negotiators blocked progress during a late night session that finished at five am this morning, and again most of the day today. Canada eventually obtained concessions that could provide it with an escape clause that would allow it to hide the sharp rise in emissions since 1990 or adopt weaker commitments in the future.”
The Bonn talks were intended to advance the climate change negotiations towards a final agreement in December 2009 in Copenhagen.
“In the first week, many countries presented concrete and constructive proposals for financing and providing technologies to developing countries, that could be part of a global deal to shift the world towards a low-emissions pathway,” said Mark Lutes, climate and energy analyst with the David Suzuki Foundation. “But in the second week, in large part thanks to Canada, progress slowed significantly.
Canada did not bring any positive proposals during the first week, and in the second Canada moved from bystander to blocker.
On Wednesday, Canada joined the US in blocking a review of their commitments to developing countries in relation to the transfer of clean technologies. This review is an important input to the negotiations in Copenhagen, where developing countries are expected to ramp up their efforts to reduce emissions with support from wealthy industrialized countries.
Then today, Canada almost single-handedly held up progress on the last item to be agreed here in Bonn – a review of the Kyoto Protocol – obtaining concessions that could weaken its future commitments under the Protocol.
“The time for moving forward is now. Canada needs to leave the lame duck U.S. administration behind and show a whole lot more urgency and ambition in order to contribute to a strong agreement by the Copenhagen deadline,” said Graham Saul, executive director of the Climate Action Network.