Copenhagen climate conference moving again: U.N. official

The Copenhagen climate change conference was moving again, said United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) executive secretary Ivo De Boer on Thursday.

"The cable car is moving again," De Boer said at a press conference. A fast "cable car" was what he expected for the second half of the journey up a mountain to the "summit" of global leaders of the conference.

De Boer had said Wednesday that the cable car had made an unexpected stop.

Many participants blamed the host country Denmark for this stop, because it tried to use the presidency to push forward its own texts without consulting others, undermining the two official drafts presented by the chairs of the conference's two ad hoc working groups.

De Boer stressed that the two texts forwarded by the two working groups were the "only basis" of negotiation.

He also said he understood why developing countries were asking for the extension of Kyoto Protocol, the only existing legally binding instrument that seeks action based on the principle of "common but differentiated targets."

De Boer said he was keen about the United States' latest commitment in joining other rich countries to raise 100 billion U.S. dollars annually by 2020 to help developing nations combat climate change.

Source: Xinhua