EU climate chief says that nothing of substance was discussed in latest global climate talks.
UN climate talks in Bonn, Germany, which concluded on Friday (25 May), were stymied by a small group of major industrialised economies that are trying to backtrack on commitments they made last year, according to EU negotiators.
"It is very worrisome that attempts to backtrack have been so obvious and time-consuming in the Bonn talks over the last two weeks," Connie Hedegaard, the European commissioner for climate action, said today (29 May). "Regrettably, only procedure, no substance was discussed."
Countries took a week to agree just on an agenda for the roadmap toward a future binding climate deal that was agreed in December in Durban, South Africa. EU negotiators said in their closing press conference that much of the resistance, most notably China, was to the theoretical agreement reached in Durban to not set separate countries into 'developed' and 'developing' categories but instead use a spectrum of development to determine commitment levels.
The two-week Bonn talks were preparing for the major round of negotiations in December of this year in Doha, Qatar. But there is now concern that given the lack of progress in Bonn, it will leave negotiators scrambling to make serious progress there. "It is disturbing to watch climate negotiations moving at a pace that is clearly not going to deliver the necessary results in Doha," said Hedegaard. "This is clearly in nobody's interest."
