Time is starting to run out for the climate negotiations. The Danish Presidency, led by Prime Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen, is now making major efforts to get negotiations started on the key issues.

Over the past few days, the negotiations have focused more on how the talks themselves should be conducted than actual progress on the issues at hand. A key issue is the role of the Kyoto Protocol in a Copenhagen agreement. The industrialised countries, headed by the EU, stress that binding commitments only from the countries that already have such commitments under the Kyoto Protocol are not sufficient to meet the two degree target. In fact, this would only cover one third of global emissions.

On Tuesday evening, the idea was that ministerial consultations in smaller groups with representatives of regional groups would have begun on all the issues on the negotiating table. This would have made conventional negotiations possible. However, at the time of writing, the Danish Government has not been given the go-ahead for this format, as the developing countries instead want to continue to work with the texts that already exist. These texts are about changes to the Kyoto Protocol and about how other issues such as action on emissions limits in developing countries, adaptation, technology and financing could be incorporated into a Copenhagen agreement. The Danish Presidency is now conducting intensive discussions with a number of parties.
“At the moment, we are in a very serious situation. Time is short, now we must all make every possible effort to reach an agreement here in Copenhagen”, said Minister for the Environment Andreas Carlgren on Thursday morning.

Meanwhile, meetings between different groups and organisations are taking place. Today and tomorrow, the almost 120 heads of state and government who are expected to attend the meeting will also arrive. A number have already arrived. The speeches they hold can be watched on the COP15 website, see link on the right.