Speaking on 17 June at the final day of the UN climate talks in Bonn, Germany, the UN´s climate chief said that the negotiations had made "clear advances on key issues" and "were also identifying areas that will require high level political leadership" ahead of the Durban annual climate summit...
UNFCCC Secretary General Christiana Figueres welcomed progress made by delegates on the adaptation, finance and technology mechanisms which were agreed last year in Cancún, Mexico. Referring to the link between negotiations on mitigation under the UN Climate Change Convention (UNFCCC) and mitigation under the Kyoto Protocol, she said: "Governments are realising that this link needs to be dealt with to get to a global solution and that will require high-level leadership during the year." She said that the Kyoto Protocol remained critically important because it contained key rules to quantify and monitor efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and important market-based mechanisms that enable cost-effective mitigation. Very supportive of a second commitment period under the  Kyoto Protocol (which will expire at the end of 2012), she pointed to encouraging signs from some delegations, which are increasingly willing to meet the conditions the EU has placed on its participation in a second commitment period.

The EU delegation called the meeting "very constructive". It is much clearer where countries stand and what might be feasible in Durban, and the willingness among delegates to meet again is encouraging, said negotiator Jürgen Lefevere.

However, civil society organisations often bemoaned the lack of progress on addressing the considerable remaining gap between national emissions reduction pledges and the total aggregate emissions reductions needed to keep global warming within 2°C.

"Progress was made on some areas, notably on climate change adaptation, and in most areas there are draft texts on the table that can form the basis for more focused negotiations at the next session. While no real progress was made on increasing the levels of ambition in emissions reductions, parties did recognize the problem of the ‘gigatonne gap’", WWF said, urging UNFCCC parties to deal with this gap and increase ambition beyond that.

As ENDS Europe reported, further unresolved issues are the potential loopholes contained in the accounting methods for land use, land use change and forestry, the details of the REDD + mechanism for forests emissions in developing countries, and the monitoring, reporting and verification (MRV) system for the voluntary emissions reductions that countries promised in Cancún.

Looking ahead to COP 17 in Durban, Ms. Figueres said that the incoming South African presidency had been actively consulting and planning for the meeting and that its efforts were well received. "The incoming South African presidency has consulted with all governments on what they see as a possible outcome for Durban", she said. "This includes the Kyoto Protocol and the global mitigation framework; operationalizing the Adaptation Committee, as well as stronger action on adaptation; the design of the Green Climate Fund, as well as identification of sources for long-term funding; and concrete progress on the Technology Mechanism so that it can be operational in 2012."

Delegates at the Bonn meeting said they were looking forward to make further progress ahead of the 17th Conference of the Parties (COP17) to the UNFCCC, which will take place from 28 November to 9 December in Durban, South Africa.