Inside Cancun: An Australian activist’s perspective on the climate talks

The US Climate Change Summit in Cancun, Mexico was not characterized by the same highs and lows of Copenhagen, but it saw modest progress. The ground work has been laid and global warming mitigation targets from all major polluters were locked in under UN convention.

The life or death of the Kyoto Protocol was high on the agenda. The Kyoto Protocol holds industrialized signatories legally bound to their emission targets. Japan and Russia advocated against its continuation after the target commitments expire in 2012. The next best outcome was achieved as Kyoto’s mandate was extended and negotiations will continue next year with a much clearer text to work with. So whilst this is not a confetti and party hats type of victory, it is a moderate step forward.

A significant win was not only the recognition that global warming needs to be kept below two degrees (as determined in the Copenhagen Accord) and acknowledgment that the two degrees warming goal needs to be reviewed and perhaps replaced with 1.5 degrees in accordance with current science. This is very important for the most vulnerable countries, those in the G77, the Africa Group, AOSIS and small island nation states who need global temperature increases to be kept bellow 1.5 degrees in order to survive.

A decision was made to lock in financial commitments made in Copenhagen, binding all parties to the $100 billion per year by 2020 commitment to facilitate developing countries in adapting to and mitigating the affects of climate change. Additionally, a decision to set up a Green Fund was passed. So while the fund itself was not set up in Cancun this year, a transitional committee was formed to put the decision into practice. The committee will be comprised of 25 members from developing countries, and 15 from developed countries – ensuring the representation of those who will be most affected by the allocation of funding.

BY SOPHIE TREVITT