China pushes for success at Cancun

China plans to hold an extra set of climate talks in Tianjin in advance of the Conference of Parties in Cancun this December. Although the talks have not yet been officially announced China and the UN are working closely together to prepare for the event.

General Achim Steiner, the UN Under-Secretary, believes that "China's gesture is quite positive" and will help the progression of talks in Mexico stating: "China will introduce some new ideas and opportunities to move the negotiation forward." The hope is that with additional talks prior to the December summit, discussions at the end of the year with be more forthcoming and decisive. He Jiankun, vice-chairman of the China Experts Panel on Climate Change said:

"The extra session was added as all believe more preparatory talks would help nations reach more agreements during the year-end negotiations, on which great hope is built."

Specific dates are yet to be decided for the October Tianjin talks but the last Bonn climate negotiations take place from Aug 2 to 6 and the Cancun conference will take place from Nov 29 to Dec 10. These talks could help make a significant difference in Cancun if they are successful; Steiner enforced the opinion that "Fruitful results in Cancun rely on efforts from all members." He expressed the belief that Copenhagen was not a complete failure even though the Copenhagen Accord is not legally binding he thinks it is important to build upon its foundations and that additional talks will help progress:

"We should work to translate targets and projects made in Copenhagen into formal instruments to fight global warming."

Yu Qingtai, China's special representative for climate change negotiations believes that countries need to go "back to basics" in order to rebuild trust in order for negotiations to be successful and suggested the UNFCCC and the Kyoto Protocol should form the basis of talks:

"The principles, especially the common but differentiated responsibilities (for developed and developing nations), should serve as the foundation for negotiations. No progress can be achieved if we deviate from such a principle."

It is Yu's opinion that it is essential to rebuild trust after its breakdown in Copenhagen when some developed nations failed to live up to commitments they made to developing countries and made 'unreasonable' demands that these countries should do more. It is important that developed nations live up to the $30 billion in aid that they pledged from 2010 to 2012 and the $100 billion annually by 2020 at Copenhagen. Hopefully some of these trust issues can be resolved before Cancun in order for talks to progress in December. China is "doing a lot internally", said Tariq Banuri, director of the division for sustainable development, UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs and this conference is the latest in their attempts to improve climate affairs.

Author: Rachael Bristow | Climate Action
Image: World Economic Forum | Flickr