Michael de Laine

By Michael de Laine, The Copenhagen Voice, 24 May 2009

The text that will form the basis of the negotiations during the UN climate change conference in Copenhagen in December, COP15, has been published, just before the start of a world business summit on climate change.

According to the Danish Ministry of Climate and Energy, the 53-page COP15 negotiation text describes the main subjects and the proposals that will be on the table during the negotiations, which include all countries.

Optional solutions have been published on all important aspects and the countries will negotiate texts on a number of subjects – such as the size and spread of obligations to cut CO2 emissions, how the climate initiatives of developing countries should be negotiated, and how initiatives aimed at mitigating climate change are to be financed.

For shipping – a central element for Denmark – there should be a global target for emissions reduction, the ministry noted.

Negotiations on the text will start at a meeting in Bonn, Germany, on 1-12 June, hosted by the UNFCCC, the UN’s climate secretariat.

“This is a milestone,” said Denmark’s Minister for Climate and Energy, Connie Hedegaard. “For the first time there is a real negotiating text on the table and it covers all countries’ contributions to a new global climate agreement. Now the more detailed political negotiations can pick up speed towards COP15 in Copenhagen. No one can be in any doubt that we will be busy if we are to reach an ambitious result in Copenhagen. The jigsaw puzzle is large and complicated, but the framework for the negotiations has now been laid.”

The road to COP15 is paved with several negotiation texts as the international negotiations take place in two parallel tracks: one, under the UN climate convention, covers all the world’s countries, including the USA; the other covers a continuation of the Kyoto Protocol, but this involves only those countries that have ratified the Kyoto protocol, where the US is absent.

The new text is in the ‘convention track’, where all countries are involved – and it is therefore a vital document, the ministry said.

Hedegaard attended the World Business Summit on Climate Change, which started in Copenhagen today and has attracted about 700 business leaders.

“The large turn-out for this business summit is a clear signal that climate change is not just a political or a ‘feel good’ matter,” Hedegaard said. “It’s business with a capital ‘B’ – and a vital market to be a leader in. We’ve talked about visions for a long time – in the coming days the business community has a unique opportunity for making their contributions to how we can realise these ambitions.”

Politicians need the business community in mitigating climate change and they need the businesses to integrate the challenges from climate change in their planning.

“The active involvement and leadership of business leaders is alpha and omega for rooting climate change initiatives in the world economy,” the Danish minister said.

“This summit is an uniquely important initiative, because the contributions of the business community to the climate agreement are of very great importance – and this meeting is the last opportunity in 2009 for businesses to co-ordinate their joint input to COP15,” Hedegaard added.

She said the role of the business community is almost as central as the politicians’ task of reaching an international climate agreement – because, in practice, it is the business community that will implement the solutions and develop the technology that a ‘low-carbon’ economy will thrive on.

But how do you get from A to B?

“Following how the business leaders discuss the transitional phase from now until we have established that green, low-carbon economy will be very interesting,” Hedegaard said. “What initiatives will the business community contribute with to ensure that the transition starts now? And how much backing will there be, from all sectors and types of business? I look forward to hearing answers to those questions at this business climate summit.”

Click here to read to new COP15 negotiation text.