As the United Nations Cancún climate change talks (COP 16) officially kick off, UK Prime Minister David Cameron says the UK will set a “shining example”.

Writing in The Observer newspaper yesterday, Cameron said that while he does not expect a deal to be struck during the talks, progress will be made towards a multinational agreement.

UK Climate Change and Energy Secretary Chris Huhne adds:
“We won’t get a full binding deal in Cancun, [but] we’ve got this next fortnight to get the global climate talks back on track.”

However, the best that can be realistically hoped for is making progress on financial assistance to developing countries to deal with climate change, reaching agreement on deforestation and, says Huhne, turning the Copenhagen Accord promised into a formal system.

In parallel, the UNEP Finance Initiative is running the World Climate Summit, bringing together over 300 financiers, companies and leaders to discuss climate change.

The meeting, which includes Richard Branson, Ted Turner and Lord Stern in the line up, promised to be the “beginning of a new, open and collaborative global 10-year framework dedicated to helping governments, businesses and financiers accelerate solutions to climate change.

“Solutions to climate change such as energy efficiency already exist,” says Niels B. Christiansen, CEO of sponsoring company Danfoss. “We see the World Climate Summit as a perfect platform to scale and finance them regionally and globally.”

For further information:
unfccc.int/2860.php
www.wclimate.com