Pools voorzitterschap bereidt klimaatconferentie voor (en)

The UN Climate Conference (COP17) opens in Durban on 28th November. The Polish Presidency will be coordinating the EU negotiating position and actions of EU representatives at the event.

‘This is the major event of the Polish Presidency in the area of the environment due to the global character of the undertaking and the fact that almost 200 negotiating parties will be represented. We also need to remember that the subject of the negotiations - global climate policy - is one of the most challenging areas of global policy. That is why we want to see active participation by Poland and the EU as a leader of that process,’commented Polish Environment Minister Marcin Korolec as he unveiled the game plan of the Polish Presidency for the Durban summit.

The participants in COP17 will discuss the future of the Kyoto Protocol and also - looking further into the future - ways of attaining a new international agreement that will assign reduction targets to the largest emitters of greenhouse gases (including China and the US).

The first period of Kyoto Protocol commitments ends next year. The absence of an accord on a second period would amount to the expiry of legally binding commitments concerning greenhouse emissions by developed countries. That would also mean the end of the global emissions market in its present form. The European Union and Poland are receptive to the introduction of the second Kyoto Protocol period, provided it is made more effective and a road map is nailed down for attaining a new global deal on climate protection. These two issues will be of key importance at COP17 in Durban.

Towards the end of the conference (7th-9th December) climate and environment ministers will join in to affirm the results reached by experts and negotiators and to take crucial decisions on any contentious issues.

‘We need a global accord to be effective in fighting climate change. The absence of this would mean inequitable treatment of the parties and the advent of emission migrations. The Polish Presidency has made great efforts to reach agreement on matters within its competence,’Korolec noted, commenting on the political expectations pinned on the Conference. ‘We are confident the conference can live up to expectations as regards defining a position on the future of the Kyoto Protocol and drafting a plan of action to put in place a new global climate deal. I want to emphasise that any agreement hammered out in Durban will not impose additional commitments on the EU or Poland.’

The most frequent questions concerning the UN Climate Conference (COP17) in Durban.