In the lead-up to next week’s climate change conference in Cancun, Mexico, China’s representative is calling on participants to reach an agreement on the issue of financing and technology transfer arrangements. From the Washington Post:
Xie Zhenhua said a deal would be key to winning the support of developing nations for a binding agreement on carbon emission reductions to succeed the 1997 Kyoto Protocol due to expire in 2012, Xie Zhenhua told reporters in Beijing.
“What is particularly important is that we need to move toward a substantive outcome on financing and technology transfer, issues developing countries watch most closely, so that we can lay a rock solid foundation for reaching a legally binding outcome in South Africa next year,” Xie said, referring to the host of next year’s annual conference.
Under an arrangement reached at last year’s conference in Copenhagen, rich nations had pledged to give developing countries $30 billion over three years to deal with mitigating and adapting to climate change, with an eventual goal of $100 billion by 2020.
ad_iconCountries are also looking to agree on more elements of a complex plan to pay developing countries for protecting their forests, and on making it easier for poorer nations to obtain patented technologies from the industrialized world for clean energy and climate adaptation.
