It's official. World leaders on Sunday announced that a binding international treaty on climate change is not a possible outcome of the UN Climate Summit to be held next month in Copenhagen.
Negotiators have been suggesting as much for months, but on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economoc Cooperation summit, US President Barack Obama, Denmark Prime Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen and others agreed that a less ambitious "politically binding" agreement would be the next best option, allowing the negotiating process to claim some success, before continuing into 2010.
With only 20 days left before the start of Copenhagen, developed and emerging nations are simply too far apart on core issues to expect all the pieces to come together.
In addition, without concrete legislative measures from the US Congress, other nations will be unwilling to move forward on their own, as they did with the Kyoto Protocol. US Congressional leaders hope to pass climate legislation in the first few months of 2010.
On Monday, Denmark's Climate Minister said that a new deadline must be set during the Copenhagen meeting. He suggested a Summit meeting in Mexico City in December 2010 should give time to achieve a legally binding agreement.
U.N. climate change secretariat, Yvo de Boer, said he hoped a final agreement could be reached by June 2010.
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