Climate Talks in Barcelona

The negotiations on an international climate agreement in Copenhagen this December are entering the final stages. This week the last official negotiations under the UNFCCC before COP15 in Copenhagen have kicked-off in Barcelona. Connie Hedegaard gave a speech to UN negotiators at the opening meeting. One of the key messages she brought home was that ministers all over the world are expecting hard work from us.

Greenland Dialogue
Connie Hedegaard was speaking from a fresh memory. Ahead of the UN-meeting, she hosted the so-called Greenland Dialogue in Barcelona. It took place on the 29-31 October 2009, and was the third of its kind this year following meetings in Ilulissat, Greenland in July and New York in September. Some 30 countries from all over the world participated in the meeting, UNFCCC representatives, the chairs of the two AWGs participated, and representatives from all regional groupings participated. The intention of the dialogue is to give high level political guidance to the negotiators in the UNFCCC process.

So, which message did ministers and representatives have? They are determined that Barcelona delivers focused texts, that only have political options left for Copenhagen on a limited number of issues. Connie says, in Copenhagen, we are striving for: "A binding agreement that will ensure that we stay below 2C. It shall be firm and committing on all the key issues: Reduction targets for the industrialized countries, commitments to actions for the developing countries, up-front finance, adaptation, and a system for Measurement, Reporting and Verification of support and action." She continued, "the agreement will not preclude but rather guide and support the finalization of a legally binding instrument. And it will capture the current, strong political commitment and translate it into real actions starting from the day we sign the agreement".

The road to Copenhagen
In two weeks time – just a week after this meeting – Connie Hedegaard will again meet with ministers as part of the Pre-COP, taking place on the 16-17 November. Here, we can be sure, that they will scrutinize the status of the negotiation texts on the table. There is no doubt, that the next few weeks we have left will be incredibly busy for both ministers responsible for climate, and heads of states trying to reach out to other parties, test compromises and find solutions that will pave the way for Copenhagen. For us sitting in the meetings in UNFCCC it is clear that the heat is on, our ministers and heads of state are watching.