At Tianjin climate gathering, governments come closer to defining what can be achieved at Cancún UN Climate Change Conference

(Tianjin, 9 October 2010) - Speaking on the final day of the Tianjin UN Climate Change Conference (4-9 October), UNFCCC Executive Secretary Christiana Figueres said that governments had made progress in defining what could be achieved at the UN Climate Change Conference in Cancún (29 November to 10 December).
This week has got us closer to a structured set of decisions that can be agreed in Cancún. Governments addressed what is doable in Cancún, and what may have to be left to later,- she said.

Ms. Figueres said that governments had discussed each element of a package of decisions, including a long-term shared vision, adapting to the inevitable effects of climate change, reducing greenhouse gas emissions, key operational elements of climate finance and capacity building, along with the future of the Kyoto Protocol. Governments need to finalize these decisions in Cancún.
The UN's top climate change official pointed out that action on climate change that could be agreed in Cancún and beyond was about turning small climate keys to unlock very big doors into a new level of climate action among rich and poor, business and consumers, governments and citizens.

If climate financing and technology transfer make it possible to give thousands of villages efficient solar cookers and lights, not only do a nation's entire carbon emissions drop, but children grow healthier, women work easier and families can talk, read and write into the evening, - she said. In the end, this is about real people being given the opportunity to take control of their future stability, security and sustainability,- she added.

Addressing the media together with Ms. Figueres on the final day of the Tianjin meeting, Mexican Foreign Minister and President-designate of the Cancún UN Climate Change Conference Patricia Espinosa said that the Cancún meeting can and should be a significant step forward to benefit everybody, above all the most vulnerable and poor countries.

"In Mexico, we will show the world we are committed to take the next essential steps on climate change and that we are committed to the multilateral path as the only fair and effective route to resolve global problems," - she said.

The Minister also said that no country was stepping back from the emission reduction or limitation pledges it made at the UN Climate Conference in Copenhagen in 2009. "Each country has recognized that it will do what it can. No country has reneged from its commitment," she said.

The Tianjin climate meeting was attended by around two and half thousand participants from more than 176 countries, including government delegates, representatives from business and industry, environmental organisations and research institutions.