Annex I Parties’ emission reductions

Yesterday I attended on of the informal groups of the Convention and Protocol bodies, contact group on Annex I Parties' emission reductions. In this meeting they discussed whether pledges should be legally binding or not. There seemed to be a disagreement between developed and developing nations. Some of the developed nations felt that they need to deepen the commitment to the Kyoto Protocol before entering into legally binding commitments. The developing nations were very concerned with the lack of pledges by developed nations. They felt there were no excuses not to move forward and all pledges should be legally binding. They felt any other proposals are not acceptable and put the success in Copenhagen in jeopardy. They also pointed out that all parties entered into this treaty willingly and should be willing to discuss a second commitment. It was noted that after four years of discussion that the parties should be moving forward and the developed nations were blocking the process. It was very interesting to hear the impassioned speeches started by China but backed by other nations.