The Guardian: U.N. Secretary-General Reasserts Leadership at Climate Change Summit
The United Nations secretary-general, Ban Ki-moon, has re-asserted ownership over the Copenhagen climate change meeting after the “trust issues” between rich and poor nations were exposed by a leaked draft agreement. He said he was confident of getting a deal for immediate action on global warming.
In an interview with the Guardian, Ban said he believed the negotiations remained on course for a strong deal, sweetened with the early release of $10bn in aid to poor countries and set down in international law within six months.
He was also adamant that deal would hinge on the core elements of the Kyoto protocol, which developing countries feared was being sabotaged in the so-called Danish text leaked to the Guardian yesterday. The text, prepared in secret by the Danish hosts, was interpreted by developing nations as favouring the rich nations they hold responsible for global warming…
Ban admitted that the uproar over the leaked Danish text had exposed the distrust between the industrialised and developing countries. But he downplayed its repercussions, noting he had been in constant contact with the Danish prime minister, Lars Løkke Rasmussen, and that he had been easing matters over with developing countries. “I have been very consciously engaging with developing countries,” he said. “Even if there have been some trust issues, we have been bridging this gap as much as we can. This is what I am going to continue to do.”
He was also adamant that the essence of the Kyoto agreement — that industrialised countries take responsibility for global warming — would survive. “What is know as common but differentiated responsibility principle will be maintained in Copenhagen,” Ban said… [more...]