Delegates from 194 countries meet this week in Durban, South Africa, for the UN Climate Summit. The main topics of discussion are the future of the Kyoto Protocol which sets targets for reducing emissions at the international level, but expires next year, and the Green Fund for the climate that should allocate 100 billion dollars a year by 2020 to help developing countries to tackle climate change. The summit takes place in a climate of skepticism, the interests of the participating states are divided and the observers do not expect a major breakthrough for this summit. China and the Group of 77 developing countries are for a rollover of the Kyoto Protocol, while U.S. (which did not ratify the protocol), Canada, Russia and Japan are pushing for the adoption of a new binding agreement covering all countries, including emerging economies such as China, India and Brazil, which currently are not bound to international targets of emission’s reduction. The EU is for a compromise that sees the extension of the Kyoto Protocol up to 2015 and then replaced with a new agreement. The future of the Kyoto Protocol is more uncertain than ever. The most likely outcome of this summit would be a provisional solution up to 2015, the year in which a broader agreement could be achieved. In the meantime the International Energy Agency warns that without an agreement, we risk irreversible climate change in five years.

More on this topic at:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/global-development/audio/2011/nov/28/cop17-durban-developing-countries-podcast