U.N. Climate Conference opens with call for unity

The New York Times reports: Ban Ki-Moon, the United Nations secretary-general, opened an unprecedented day-long conference of some 100 world leaders on climate change by appealing to them to set aside their national interests and think about the future of the globe.

“Instead of demanding concessions from others, let us ask how we can contribute to the greater good,” he said in prepared remarks to the leaders gathered in the General Assembly hall, describing the talks as moving at “glacial” speed. “The world’s glaciers are now melting faster than human progress to protect them—and us.”

Negotiators trying to hammer out a deal to cut global emissions by December in Copenhagen have largely stalled, and Mr. Ban is hoping that gathering the leaders will give the talks new political momentum. In his private meetings with each head of state, he has also urged them to think beyond their borders, aides said.

The conference today, which is not a negotiating session but designed to push toward a strategy, is focused on four outstanding hurdles.

Industrialized nations, while agreeing on cutting emissions in the long term — by 2050 — have failed to agree on a crucial midterm target for carbon emissions cuts by 2020. They have pledged to roughly go halfway toward meeting the ambitious target set by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change — a 25 percent to 40 percent reduction from 1990 levels by 2020 — which environmental advocates say is not enough.

Developing powerhouses like China and India have agreed on the need to trim emissions, but reject mandatory limits, and demand financial and technical support in exchange. Efforts to reach any kind of consensus around the issue of aid for the poorest countries to adapt to the impact of climate change are faltering. Finally, there is no agreement on what institutions would verify that targets are being met and supervise the financial and emissions targets.

More on today's conference here.