Representatives of the world's biggest carbon polluters begin two days of informal talks in London on Sunday to map out common ground 50 days before a key UN climate conference in Copenhagen. The 17 countries that make up the so-called Major Economies Forum (MEF), along with developing nations and UN representatives, will try to iron out some of their differences before the crunch summit in December.
"We represent about 90 percent of global emissions, so if we can get a way forward and narrow some of the differences between the... (17) countries that represent the lion's share of the problem, then it might make those UN talks easier," British Energy and Climate Change Secretary Ed Miliband told the BBC. "That's the purpose of the meetings today and tomorrow here in London."
He said the December talks in Denmark, when nations will try to agree a new global climate treaty to replace the Kyoto Protocol which expires in 2012, were unlikely to succeed if left to the summit itself. "The truth is that if this is left to the negotiators in the formal negotiations, I think we'll fail," he said.
The MEF was launched by US President Barack Obama in March on the back of an initiative by his predecessor, George W. Bush. It is aimed at speeding up the search for common ground among the most polluting world economies.
It then intends to hand this consensus for approval by the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), the sprawling 192-nation global arena. Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, the European Union, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, South Korea, Mexico, Russia, South Africa, Britain, and United States are all taking part in the MEF.
A key element of the London talks will be climate finance. British Prime Minister Gordon Brown called in June for a global fund worth 100 billion dollars a year to tackle climate change in the developing world.
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