Climate-Change Talks Resume

Countries resumed discussions this month on a global climate-change pact, but the chances of those talks resulting in a new treaty later this year appear extremely slim. The negotiations in Bonn, Germany, on April 9–11 restarted the UN talks on a new, legally binding climate pact that got bogged down in Copenhagen last December (C&EN, Jan. 11, page 27). The Bonn talks focused mainly on procedural issues left unresolved in Copenhagen, according to Jonathan Pershing, U.S. deputy special envoy for climate. Three more sets of climate talks are scheduled in preparation for a major conference in Cancun, Mexico, at the end of November. “There is still momentum in the UN process, but it is fragmenting,” says Annie Petsonk, international counsel for the Environmental Defense Fund, an environmental group. The focus, she added, is moving to countries taking domestic action to address climate change. In a related move, the U.S. this week is hosting climate discussions among 17 countries that are the world’s largest emitters of greenhouse gases.