25 November 2009: In a press briefing held in Bonn, Germany, Yvo de Boer, UNFCCC Executive Secretary, outlined what can and must be achieved in Copenhagen, with a focus on developing countries. He emphasized that “There is no Plan B for failure at Copenhagen, only plan A. And ‘A’ stands for action.”
He listed the four essential sets of country commitments that Copenhagen must deliver, namely: industrialized country targets, with individual counties, including the US coming up with numerical targets for their pledged emission cuts by 2020; clarity on the scope and extent of developing world engagement; clarity on short and long-term finance to support developing world mitigation and adaptation; and clarity on how to deploy this money to developing country needs and priorities. Specifically on the needs of developing countries, de Boer said that Copenhagen “can and must” deliver an agreement that launches immediate action in developing countries to adapt to the impacts of climate change, and start to put themselves on a clean energy path with the requisite technology and capacity building to enable this. He also underscored the need to launch immediate international cooperation to preserve and sustain forests. [Speaking Notes]