CRI听力:UN Climate Chief is Optimistic about Copenhagen Deal

The UN climate chief is optimistic about Copenhagen deal with negotiators now having the clearest signal ever from world leaders to craft solid proposals to implement rapid action. Our reporter Wang Ling finds more.

Climate negotiators and world leaders from 192 nations are meeting in Copenhagen in the next two weeks, seeking to agree on an all-encompassing package to combat global warming.


Yvo de Boer, executive secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, is optimistic about the conference given that the key nations have already made pledges on emissions and financial assistance.

"If I look at the number of people that have committed to come here to make sure that it is a success - the announcements of financial support that we have received, the targets that have been announced, the developing country engagement that we're seeing - I don't think it's going to fail."

The UN climate chief is hopeful that at the end of the two-week process, success will be measured in terms of whether there are measurable commitments from each major player - not just a "lump sum" of pledges for which no one takes responsibility.

"I think that at the end of this two-week session, I need to be able to show you a piece of paper that says this is what the US has committed for 2020, this is what the EU has committed for 2020, this is what Japan has committed for 2020. In other words, a sort of lump sum, where you don't know who's going to take responsibility for what, is not good enough."

Yvo de Boer calls on governments to deliver a strong and long-term response to the challenge of climate change during the two weeks' meeting, which he lauds as the first in 17 years of climate negotiations to have so many different nations make so many firm pledges together.

More than 15,000 participants, including delegates from 192 countries, are expected to take part in the conference as part of a UN-led drive to slow rising world temperatures that could bring more heat waves, expanding deserts, floods and rising sea levels.

Wang Ling, CRI news.