Bali, Poznan, Copenhagen: climate negotiations in marathon mode

Currently, the climate consultants are going into marathon mode: never before have such important decisions had to be taken within a period of two years. The agendas for the next negotiations in Poznan (2008) and Copenhagen (2009) were passed at the Conference of the Parties in Bali in 2007.

The paper “Bali, Poznan, Copenhagen: Triple Jump Towards a New Climate Policy?” by Germanwatch serves as a guide and gives an overview of the most important conclusions reached in Bali and of the possible future of United Nations climate policy.

Dr Hermann E. Ott is head of the Berlin office of the Wuppertal Institute for Climate, Environment and Energy. He has monitored the recent negotiations in climate policy and deals critically with the results of the Bali roadmap in his texts:

• The Bali roadmap: new horizons for global climate policy
• The Bali roadmap for new global climate policy: new horizons and old pitfalls

A historical review: The Conference of the Parties (COP) of the United Nations has been meeting annually since 1995. After the commencement of the Kyoto Protocol in 2005, the conferences were enhanced by the Meeting of the Parties (MOP). The office of the Heinrich Böll Foundation in Poland has compiled the stages of international climate history.

• Dossier: On the road to Copenhagen