World leaders will gather at the United Nations in New York on Tuesday (23 September) for a summit on climate change. But it is unlikely that the summit will meet its aim of paving the way for a globally binding climate agreement next year.
Last week, the leaders of China and India said that they would not attend. The absence of the two largest countries in the so-called ‘BASIC’ bloc of developing countries means there is likely to be little headway.
Ban Ki-moon, the UN secretary-general, had hoped that a solution could be found to the contentious issue of whether developing countries should bear less of the burden of fighting climate change.
The summit will be attended by Connie Hedegaard, the outgoing commissioner for climate action, and Jose Manuel Barroso, the outgoing president of the European Commission. It will be attended by the leaders of Italy, France and the UK.
A climate summit in Warsaw last year failed to resolve the problem, but a solution will have to be found before a summit in Lima, Peru, in December if there is any hope of a new climate deal in 2015. The BASIC countries confirmed their position last month, saying that any pledges they make on emissions reduction are dependent on the provision of financial assistance by developed countries.
During a visit to Brussels in April, Ban said he pleaded with José Manuel Barroso, the president of the European Commission, to make sure that EU leaders agreed on a emission reduction pledge before this summit. But the EU has been unable to reach agreement. A decision has been put off until a meeting of EU leaders next month.