16 March 2010: In a press conference held in New York, US, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon indicated he was “encouraged” by the response of governments, scientific institutions and environmental activists to the launch of the independent review of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). He also welcomed the support expressed by 110 countries representing over 80% of global emissions for the Copenhagen Accord, noting it was “an important advance toward Cancun.”
Ban then responded to a question on the remarks of his Special Envoy on Climate Change, Gro Harlem Brundtland, according to whom the climate negotiations will increasingly move outside the UN framework and focus on a streamlined group of countries. Underlining that he regarded Brundtland’s comments as her personal views, he stated that a double track for negotiations was “not desirable at this time.” He emphasized that the negotiations should take place under the UNFCCC, while recognizing that it was sometimes necessary to “engage in small groups on different agendas to facilitate the consensus-building process.” He informed that the UN has initiated a consultation process with the Mexican Government, including President Felipe Calderón, the host of the 16th session of the Conference of the Parties (COP 16) to the UNFCCC in November and December this year. In concluding, he stressed the need for some confidence-building process and informed that discussions were underway to add two more UNFCCC working group meetings before COP 16. [Press Conference Transcript]