What's In Blue

Posted Tue 19 Jul 2011

Climate Change Negotiations

Council members are continuing today their negotiations on a possible presidential statement on climate change. This morning there was a meeting at permanent representative level following meetings yesterday afternoon at both expert and deputy permanent representative level. It seems that it is still proving difficult to get consensus from Council members on the text. A meeting at expert level is scheduled for this afternoon to discuss a third draft. Time is now short and agreement needs to be reached by the end of the day if tomorrow’s debate is to result in any kind of decision from the Council.

It seems that while the positions of those who would prefer no statement have not changed, they are willing to continue with negotiations on the text. Some elected members have made a number of suggestions to the text and as a result may be willing to accept having a presidential statement if it incorporates their suggestions. Avoiding language referring to vulnerable states and areas connected to development rather than security seems to be a priority. While it is still uncertain if there will be any kind of agreement by tonight, a “lowest common denominator” text might prove acceptable.

Sign up for What's In Blue emails

Subscribe to receive SCR publications