After two weeks of closed door negotiations, a U.N. preparatory committee has failed to reach consensus on a global plan of action, titled "The Future We Want," to be adopted by a summit meeting of world leaders mid-June in Brazil. In an effort to break the deadlock, the PrepCom will give another shot at the zero draft when it holds an unscheduled five-day session beginning May 29. This will be a last ditch attempt to finalise the draft action plan. --Thalif Deen,
IPS News, 7 May 2012
Representatives from governments negotiating the outcome document for the United Nations Sustainable Development Conference (Rio+20) today agreed to add five more days of deliberations to bridge differences that have kept them from making further progress in negotiations. Countries have voiced concern over the theme of the green economy in the context of sustainable development and poverty, with some developing countries asserting that a green economy approach should not lead to green protectionism or limit growth and poverty eradication. --
UN News Centre, 5 May 2012
A statement released Friday by a coalition of international non-governmental organisations (NGOs) warned that Rio+20 "looks set to add almost nothing to global efforts to deliver sustainable development". Antonio Hill of Oxfam said, "After four months of talks on the so-called zero draft outcome document, the Rio+20 talks are stuck at zero." He said little or nothing has emerged that will deliver on what governments agreed was needed 20 years ago at the Earth Summit. --Thalif Deen,
IPS News, 7 May 2012
Miffed with the way some UN and other international organizations have played a partisan role in climate change negotiations, India has demanded that their reports and studies should not be accepted as part of these deliberations. So far, these external reports were used more for rhetorical discourses and building public pressure outside the negotiation forums. --Nitin Sethi,
Times of India, 6 May 2012
EU nations are dithering over how to fill a multi-billion-euro fund to help tackle climate change, just as the region's executive body hosts talks with countries likely to bear the brunt of extreme weather. Non-governmental organisation Oxfam said "intransigence" from some EU member states was putting the coalition at risk as they are arguing against firm commitments to finance after 2012. --
Reuters, 7 May 2012
Are biofuels about to become irrelevant in Europe? It is not just austerity on the decline throughout Europe with France’s Nicolas Sarkozy another leader down as of yesterday. While Europeans are rethinking their countries’ austere budgets, European Union officials in Brussels are also doubting the efficacy of biofuels. --Leon Kaye,
Triple Pundit, 7 May 2012
I voted against the Climate Change Act, not on the basis that the science is still so uncertain, but on the evidence provided to Parliament by the government about the costs and benefits of the Act. I got a copy of the impact assessment. I was the only person to do so - I know that because when I went to the vote office, they said "Oh, we can't find that, no-one's asked for it." But they did eventually find it. And I read it. And this is the government's assessment of the costs and benefits of the Climate Change Act, the most expensive piece of legislation probably introduced in this country since the Welfare State. –-Peter Lilley,
MP, 1 May 2012
