Earth Equity News

Gloomy Negotiators End U.N. Climate Talks in Bonn. By Paul Voosen, Greenwire, August 14, 2009. "The latest round of preparatory talks for the U.N. climate conference concluded on August 14 with negotiators lamenting that the languid pace of talks could mean there won't be a deal on emissions in Copenhagen this December... The negotiators were wrapping up a week of talks in Bonn, Germany, aimed at narrowing the number of options in the 200-page main negotiating document. This text, which will serve as the basis for negotiations for the successor to 1997's Kyoto Protocol, is currently inundated with some 2,000 bracketed statements highlighting areas of disagreement. 'We seem to be afloat on a sea of brackets,' said Yvo de Boer, executive secretary of the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change. The document has not been significantly slimmed down in the week's discussions. Much debate hinges on whether the U.S. Senate will pass climate legislation this fall. The United States' lead climate negotiator, Jonathan Pershing made it clear that the United States will use whatever domestic legislation it passes as the basis for its carbon reduction agreements."