Negotiators deliver the framework, now ministers need to come up with the numbers

Posted on 12 diciembre 2009

Negotiators at the UN climate summit have delivered a framework that can be developed to ensure a fair, ambitious and binding Copenhagen climate deal, WWF said yesterday.

Copenhagen, Denmark – Negotiators at the UN climate summit have delivered a framework that can be developed to ensure a fair, ambitious and binding Copenhagen climate deal, WWF said yesterday.

“It is the job of the ministers now arriving to fill in the numbers against both the cuts in emissions and the money to make the deal possible,” said Kim Carstensen, leader of WWF’s global climate initiative.

“Putting in the numbers is where we can bridge the divide between the ambitions governments have shown so far and what we really need to do to stay out of the climate catastrophe zone.”

WWF warned that texts presented by the chairmen of the negotiating group don’t answer questions on the legal format of the future agreement.

“Adding ambitious numbers to the framework texts and purging the remaining loopholes that could undermine the integrity of the deal is important”, said Carstensen,“but to make it a reliable and watertight, we also need to have it legally binding.”

Carstensen said ministers and later heads of state would be able to address issues that negotiators had little freedom to move on.

“If we can bridge the divide between what the developed nations are prepared to do and what the emerging and developing world want to see happen, we will have a Copenhagen climate deal,” Carstensen did. “Clearly there has to be action on all sides for the greater global outcome.

“For the wealthy world, the science and the equity arguments all point to increased cuts in emissions and more money on the table for those who have contributed little to the problem of climate change but will suffer the most of the consequences.”

“From the emerging economies we welcome the commitments made, but we need their efforts to be included in and measured as part of the global effort.”

For further information:
Phil Dickie
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+41797031952

About WWF
WWF is one of the world's largest and most respected independent conservation organizations, with almost 5 million supporters and a global network active in over 100 countries. WWF's mission is to stop the degradation of the earth's natural environment and to build a future in which humans live in harmony with nature, by conserving the world's biological diversity, ensuring that the use of renewable natural resources is sustainable, and promoting the reduction of pollution and wasteful consumption.

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