“We must not be dragged down by procedural issues," said E.U. Commissioner for Climate Action, Connie Hedegaard, discussing the new European strategy during a visit to India on Friday. “Instead, let us spend more time on negotiating what we are actually going to do."
Ms. Hedegaard discussed the expectations for the Cancun summit with Union Minister of State for Environment and Forests Jairam Ramesh on Friday, even as negotiators met in Bonn for the first formal climate talks of the year.
Developing countries have been wary of agreeing to a legally-binding treaty that would force them to take on legal emission reduction obligations as well. Instead, they want rich countries to first agree on fresh legal obligations during a post-2012 second commitment period for the Kyoto Protocol. Disagreement about the legal nature of any new treaty was among the factors that caused a breakdown in U.N. talks at Copenhagen last year.
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