Ecologic Institute at the Climate Summit in Cancun
A breakthrough in the UN climate negotiations was achieved in Cancun, Mexico, during the first two weeks of December 2010. After the collapse of negotiations in Copenhagen in 2009, the Cancun conference revived the process by reaching a set of operational decisions that both formalise essential elements of last year’s “Copenhagen Accord” and keep the prospect of a binding agreement open. The decisions address key elements of the climate negotiations such as the aim of limiting the temperature increase to 2 degrees Celsius, a formal anchoring of mitigation pledges by developed countries as well as mitigation actions by developing countries, transparency of actions and a new Global Climate Fund. The decisions have given a new impulse to building the future climate regime, but details still need to be worked out in the run-up to the next summit in South Africa in November/December 2011. More and more civil society observers are attending the COPs every year, and many observers essentially treat the COP as a central, global meeting place for all discussions, academic work and outreach related to climate change. A delegation from Ecologic Institute also attended the climate summit.
