She stressed that governments need to agree on doubling their efforts in speeding up the reduction of global emissions. She also pointed out that the governments’ actions for the reduction of emissions should be made certain at the coming conference.
“Governments meeting in Durban must resolve the remaining issues over the future of the Kyoto Protocol,” Ms. Figueres, the Executive Secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, said. “In this context, we need to keep in mind that the Kyoto Protocol remains the only working, binding international model to reduce emissions, and nations have an urgent task to decide how to take forward the protocol’s unique benefits of transparency, certainty, compliance in handling national emissions targets and common but differentiated responsibilities.”
Another challenge that must be met by governments this year is to ensure that the climate finance, technology for developing countries, and new institutions agreed upon during last year’s C.O.P16 materialize.
There are three central areas that need to be addressed this year. First, the Green Climate Fund must be made operational by the time of the Durban Talks and governments should agree on how to bring about the $100 billion-per year fund by 2020.
Second, details regarding $30 billion in fast-start financing from industrialized countries to cover 2010 to 2012 must be delivered to the United Nations Climate Change Secretariat.
And third, agreements must be made on the composition and the parameters of the Cancun Adaptation Framework and Technology Mechanism to become fully operational.
“By Durban, the poor and vulnerable of the world need to see real change has happened, and the businessmen, scientists and engineers who launch real solutions on the ground need to see a new era of international climate action has truly begun,” Ms. Figueres said.
“And in Durban, governments need to take the next step to increase their ambition to reduce global emissions together,” she added.
In addition to her outlook for the coming talks in Durban later this year, the climate change chief stressed that the agreements made in Cancun be made concrete in order for the upcoming conference to create new steps.
