Thursday, December 17, 2009

UN Chief On Copenhagen: 'We will establish a global governance structure'

From Weasel Zippers

LATimes Interview with Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon:

There has been talk of reducing the U.N.'s role in future climate change policy and allowing Western-led institutions to oversee how the developing world spends any money it receives from developed countries. Can there be a deal that excludes the U.N.?


How can you scrap the role of the United Nations? The United Nations has global reach.

The United Nations will be there and should be involved in this implementation process.

One of the principles agreed upon is that all commitments should be reportable, measurable and verifiable. This is what has been agreed by both developed and developing countries.

We will establish a global governance structure to monitor and manage the implementation of this. Experts from both worlds should participate.

Do developed countries owe a carbon debt to developing countries?

Developed countries have political and moral responsibilities, therefore they have to do more, first of all by coming out with ambitious targets to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and they should be prepared to provide financial support.

We have pretty good agreement on short-term, fast-track financial support in the order of $10 billion for the coming three years. When we agree on a politically binding agreement, this will have immediate operational effect, including financial support from next year.

Does President Obama's decision to attend this week mean a deal is likely?

The U.S. has had very serious, in-depth bilateral engagement with China and India.

And I believe that the fact that President Obama has agreed to participate himself may suggest that the U.S. has some better understandings on what China and India will do. He has been instrumental in changing the political dynamics of this debate.



There is a rumor that Obama will not be attending.

3 comments:

Epaminondas said...

When they pry the .308 from my cold dead hands

Anonymous said...

-Iceburg! Iceburg sighted dead ahead!

-..Sir?

--Why aren't they turning the damned ship?

-They want to know if it's a natural iceburg or an AGW one...

--But it's A FINANCIAL ICEBURG!

-I know it, but they're also saying that the rudder's a bit undersized and there aren't enough lifeboats for everyone.

--...Well, shouldn't they at least try to turn? I mean, it's not like we're unsinkable..

midnight rider said...

Epa -- I'll be rgiht with you, with my .30-06.