in Bonn, Germany,1-12June 2009
UN climate change negotiations will enter their next round in Bonn on 1 June. This meeting is different from previous ones – it is the first time real negotiating text will be on the table which can serve as a basis for governments to start drafting the final agreement due at the Copenhagen Climate Summit this December.
Ahead of the Bonn talks, the UN has presented first draft text elements of the new global agreement meant to prevent runaway climate change. The text will now be refined by some 190 countries in talks which have to end with a strong global deal to build on the Kyoto Protocol from 1997.Bonn is also expected to see increased levels of public pressure to demand progress.
WHAT WE WANT:
Kim Carstensen, Leader of WWF International’s Global Climate Change Initiative:
“The UN draft has good points and bad points, but it's there, and it's a good basis for negotiations. Now that we have it, there is no real excuse for countries to hide their positions anymore. We have a document to work on and we now have to get to real negotiations, honest negotiations, negotiations aiming at achieving the ambitious results the world needs.”
“We have to leave the times of tricks and games. There is no way around cutting global emissions by at least 80 per cent below 1990 levels by mid-century. The world is becoming hotter, climate change greater and we have to act with a much stronger sense of urgency every day. Each day of delay is a day lost, but climate change is not waiting.”
KEY ISSUES:
In order to achieve a treaty which has the power to save the planet from devastating climate change, delegates have to
- share the vision to keep global warming well below the danger-threshold of 2 degrees Celsius
- ensure that global carbon emissions reach a peak well before 2020 and quickly decline thereafter, with an aim to cut emissions by at least 80% by 2050 compared to 1990 levels
- agree that industrialized countries cut their emissions by at least 40% by 2020 as a group, with the US taking on a reduction target comparable in nature, intensity and compliance requirements, while staying within the limits of the remaining global carbon budget
- facilitate the transition to a low-carbon economy through green and climate-friendly recovery packages
- provide emerging economies and other developing countries access to clean technologies and adequate levels of funding for low-carbon development
- create new institutional structures under the UNFCCC to make implementation of the Copenhagen deal possible
- define ways to financevital climate change adaptation efforts in developing countries
- support crucial measures to protect forests and a target of zero net deforestation by 2020
WWF MEDIA EVENTS/ACTIVITIES:
Monday,1 June:WWF opening press release
Wednesday,3 June:WWF press release to comment on outcomes of the parallel UN General
Assembly High Level Conference on the Financial Crisis, New York
Friday, 5 June:World Environment Day 2009; WWF midterm press release on the state of
play one week into the UN meeting
Saturday, 6 June:Photo-op with an aerial photo shot in the BonnRheinauen, involving
hundreds of activists forming a giant message, plus subsequent march to
the Maritim Hotel (UN Conference Centre), organized by NGO network
Monday, 8 June:Official side-event and press release by NGO coalition to launch an NGO Treaty, a blueprint for the Copenhagen deal (7.30pm to 9pm, TRAM room)
Thursday, 11 June:Climate Hearing event by NGO network, including testimonials by climate
change victims from around the world (10:30am, open for press)
Friday, 12 June:WWF closing press release
MATERIALS FOR THE MEDIA:
Press Pack:All related backgrounders, press work, reports and other material will be posted on
Copenhagen Expectations Paper: WWF position paper outlining key issues for new global deal-
Blogs:Journalists interested in exclusive real-time WWF updates from the negotiations in Bonn are invited to the new WWF text and video blog at:
WWF CLIMATE CHANGE AND POLICY EXPERTS:
Kim Carstensen,Leader, WWF Global Climate Initiative, E: ,M: +45-40-343635; Kathrin Gutmann, Head of Policy, WWF Global Climate Initiative, E: , M: +49-162-2914428; Tasneem Essop, International Climate Policy Advocate, WWF South Africa, E:,M: +27-83-9986290
The WWF delegation includes representatives from key countries from North and South as well as issue experts on the various crucial issues discussed under the UNFCCC.
MEDIA TEAM:
Christian Teriete, E: , M: +852-93106805;Ashwini Prabha, E: , M: +41-79-8741682