UN climate chief seeks foundations for climate deal

Three representatives at the climate talks in Tianjin have a break at the coffe room on Oct 3. China hosts week-long UN climate talks from Monday aimed at sealing a broader pact to fight global warming and helping poorer nations with money and clean-energy technology. The meeting in the northern port city of Tianjin is the first time China has hosted the tortuous UN talks over what succeeds the current phase of the Kyoto Protocol, the key treaty on climate change, which expires in late 2012. [Photo/Xinhua]

TIANJIN - Governments are trying to "set foundations" for reaching a new climate treaty at the UN’s climate session in Tianjin between Oct 4 - 9.

"All governments have a very important opportunity to sift through the many details currently on the plate," said Christiana Figueres, the executive secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), before the opening ceremony of the meeting.

"They need to decide what to take out, what they are going to decide in Cancun. Countries will need to decide what is going to be an achievable and politically balanced package to be discussed at the year-end Cancun climate summit, and what to do next year," she said.

Christiana Figueres, the executive secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), delivers a speech on Monday in Tianjin.[Chinadaily.com.cn]

The realistic way for the participating governments is the separation of "do-able" from quick-term and longer-term. They need to identify a set of decisions that will be decided at Cancun, which could include frameworks for adaptation, mitigation, financial and capacity building, and so on, se said.

"The most important lesson learned from Copenhagen Summit is that you cannot build a tall building without setting foundations," Figueres said, "the countries have been doing in the past ten months to set such foundations for the next climate regime."