Improved environment for talks?

Li Yan,

Greenpeace East Asia climate and energy campaign manager

A1 As the world faces the increasing risk of climate change, the Doha meeting must yield meaningful results and convey a clear and active signal to the world to shift to green, low-carbon development.

I think the Doha meeting is a meeting in transition. Climate change talks have lasted for so many years and old commitments haven't been honored, while discussions on long-term action after 2020 have started.

Looking back at Copenhagen and Cancun, the public was counting on these international negotiations to spur all nations to slash emissions, but now we need to adjust our expectations. We cannot merely look to the negotiations to address climate change without boosting domestic action.

A2 The vital focus of the meeting includes extending the Kyoto Protocol with substantial efforts on emission reduction, securing funding for the Green Climate Fund, and drawing up a working plan for the new global climate treaty.

Some developed countries previously agreed to reduce their emissions by 25 to 40 percent by 2020, but that figure is rarely mentioned. Many commitments were made but there has been no implementation. We need more powerful and sufficient efforts to slash emissions. There must be a working plan to make up the gap between politics and science.

A3 The first commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol will expire by the end of the year, so Doha is the last opportunity to pass the ratifiable amendment and start the second commitment period.

The coverage and emission targets of the second commitment period under the protocol must be arranged at Doha. So far, Canada, Japan and New Zealand have rejected the second period, so bodies like the EU should play a key role in pushing forward the process. Besides, the continuation of the protocol is pivotal in terms of setting standards for the carbon market.

A4 A recent scientific report from the World Bank showed that the world will heat up by 4 C by the end of the century if the global community fails to act on climate change.

For China, it's important to synergize the international negotiations with domestic policy planning. According to the current timetable, if a global treaty could be reached in 2015 and come into effect in 2020, that could be integrated with China's future Five-Year Plans, the structural reform of China energy mix, and China's planning for its carbon market. China needs to move forward at a concerted pace with the international community.