Yahoo News 19 Jan 10;
ABU DHABI (AFP) – Countries could reach a binding agreement on climate change in Mexico City this year after failing to do so in Copenhagen, the chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change said Tuesday.
"I think we have a very short period of time in which the world has to get its act together. And if that happens, then certainly Mexico could produce a binding agreement," Rajendra Pachauri told a news conference at the third World Future Energy Summit in Abu Dhabi.
"It's a daunting, but certainly a doable, prospect," he said, referring to the next summit, planned for later this year in the Mexican capital.
Climate talks in Copenhagen last month ended with a non-binding agreement to reduce rises in global temperatures, a result that has been criticised as insufficient.
But if countries are to reach a binding agreement in Mexico City, "there are a few critical factors which would need a superhuman effort," Pachauri said.
"One of them is commitment from the US," he said.
Countries would also need to take steps such as agreeing on an institutional framework by which funding for developing nations to address climate change could be effectively utilised, he said.
Norwegian Foreign Minister Jonas Gahr Store too said a binding agreement in Mexico City is within reach.
"I agree with (Pachauri). It's doable, but I would add, it's hard. And we have to build on every positive experience with Copenhagen and we have to do everything to limit the negative experiences from Copenhagen," Store told AFP on the sidelines of the summit.
He added that the challenges posed by climate change would not be resolved soon.
"We who are policymakers will deal with climate change every day for the rest of our political lives," he said. "We have to stop thinking that this is something we solve at the next conference ... It's part of an ongoing process."
