Stage set for Cancun

Narayan Lakshman

Washington DC: The Major Economies Forum, a platform for ministerial discussions on energy and climate issues, wrapped up on Monday after two days of meetings focussing on preparing for the summit on climate change in Cancun in November 2010. The Forum was chaired by National Security Advisor for International Economic Affairs Michael Froman and led on the United States side by Todd Stern, Special Envoy for climate.

At a press interaction on Friday, State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley said: “We are going to see if we cannot continue our dialogue among major developed and developing economies to make progress in meeting our objectives on climate change and the Clean Energy Challenge.” He added there was clearly a gap between the views of the developing and developed world, and, “We are going to see if we can, through the course of this discussion, narrow that down.”

Minister of State for Environment and Forests Jairam Ramesh, who could not participate due to the volcanic ash cloud from Iceland disrupting travel plans, also touched upon the question of divergent views among climate change interlocutors.

In his statements to the Forum, which he shared with The Hindu, Mr. Ramesh stressed the importance of “reducing the huge ‘trust deficit' that prevails in the climate change negotiating community.” To do so, Mr. Ramesh said, it should be recognised that the two-track negotiating process was the only one that had legitimacy, though the Copenhagen Accord was important. He said “visible triggers” were needed to ensure that “Cancun does not repeat Copenhagen”.

One such trigger would be the disbursement of the $10 billion promised for vulnerable economies The 17 major-economy members of the Forum are: Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, the European Union, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Korea, Mexico, Russia, South Africa, UK. and the U.S.