During a press conference, Christiana Figueres provided an update of the ongoing intergovernmental climate change negotiations, and highlighted two major tasks for governments before the 17th session of the Conference of the Parties to the UNFCCC (COP 17) to take place in Durban, South Africa, at the end of 2011.
12 May 2011: During a press conference held at UN Headquarters in New York, US, Christiana Figueres, UNFCCC Executive Secretary, noted that governments are “seriously examining” ways of avoiding a “regulatory void” if the Kyoto Protocol is “allowed to lapse without a replacement mechanism in place by December 2012.”
Providing an update of the ongoing intergovernmental climate change negotiations, she highlighted two major tasks for governments before the 17th session of the Conference of the Parties to the UNFCCC (COP 17) to take place in Durban, South Africa, at the end of 2011, namely to: agree on ways to strengthen the international conditions enabling countries to work together in making deeper global emission cuts; and design the new climate institutions that would provide adequate and efficient support to developing countries. Highlighting encouraging trends outside the negotiations, she observed that countries, including the biggest economies, were moving forward with new policies to promote low-carbon growth, and that the private sector continues to increase its investment in low-carbon businesses and renewable energy. She further called on governments to “pick up speed and focus on all fronts.” [UNFCCC Executive Secretary’s Press Conference Transcript]