We’ll never accept 2nd Kyoto period, says Japan, sparking doubts on KP’s survival

Cancún, November 30 (Lim Li Lin) – At the opening of the Kyoto Protocol Working Group, Japan shocked participants of the Cancun climate talks by stressing that it would never accept a second commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol and that it would never agree to place its greenhouse gas emission reduction target under the Kyoto Protocol.
Some delegates and observers felt this was a significant moment equivalent to the sounding of a death knell of the Protocol named after a city in Japan in which the Protocol’s negotiations had been concluded.

Canada named in Group of 3 countries working to kill Kyoto Protocol

Council of Canadians is alarmed by reports that there is a small group of three countries blocking the second round of emission reduction commitments under the Kyoto Protocol. At a press conference just held by several Latin American countries strong concerns were voiced about a move away from the Kyoto Protocol and binding commitments in favour of the weak Copenhagen Accord. Canada has been named by the Executive Secretary Figueres of the Conference of Parties (COP 16) as being one of the three along with Russia and Japan.

AWGLCA Opening:  Parties voice expectations for Cancún

Cancún, 30 November 2010 (Meena Raman) -- At the opening session of the Ad-hoc Working Group on Long-term Cooperative Action (AWGLCA) under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change on 29 November, developing and developed countries expressed varying views on the outcome from Cancun, Mexico.

Cancun meetings begin with call for “balanced outcome.”

A new Chair's text as Cancun meetings begin

Cancún, 29 November (Meena Raman) – The annual set of UNFCCC meetings begins in Cancun today, with hopes that this year there will be a better negotiating atmosphere, especially at the end, than last year's Copenhagen conference.

Problems relating to process and procedures were mainly responsible for the bad ending in Copenhagen, so the participants in Cancun hope there will not be similar problems here. Process and substance are not separate issues, of course.  A different process can give advantage to or even determine a particular choice of substance.