Paris - The much-anticipated UN Climate Change Conference scheduled to take place in December in the Danish capital Copenhagen is heading for disaster, German Environment Minister Sigmar Gabriel said Tuesday in Paris. "There is no movement," Gabriel complained just before the conclusion of a two-day preparatory meeting of ministers from 16 industrial nations in the French capital. "The expectations we all had... have not been fulfilled."
Gabriel said that participants at the Paris meeting did little more than repeat their old and well-known positions.
"There have been no real advances (in discussions) between emerging economies and industrial nations, neither in regard to the question of how to reduce greenhouse gas emissions nor in how we are to finance adaptations or technology transfer," he said.
Gabriel did say that, under President Barack Obama, the US government is "much more willing to contribute" than it had been previously. But the Americans were also unable to bring movement to the negotiations, he said.
Many governments expect the Copenhagen conference to produce a new global climate agreement and commit nations to undertaking new measures to reduce greenhouse gases.
