Outgoing U.N. climate chief Yvo de Boer shot down expectations of a comprehensive climate treaty this year, saying Monday that a major U.N. conference in December would yield only a first answer on curbing greenhouse gases.
Lots more Five-Star dining required.
De Boer said the next major U.N. climate conference in Cancun, Mexico, in December will "not provide an answer that is good enough." He was speaking to reporters at an international climate meeting in Koenigswinter, near Bonn, the former German capital.
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"A good outcome of Cancun will be an operational architecture on climate change," he said. "And then we can decide on a treaty." De Boer said he expects such an international climate treaty before the end of 2012, but even that will "not be the definitive answer to the climate change challenge."
Germany and other countries have said they have not given up on a deal in Cancun. Germany and Mexico are hosting the meeting in Koenigswinter of more than 40 ministers and high representatives, which is aimed at getting the U.N.'s negotiating process back on track.
German Environment Minister Norbert Roettgen said Monday evening the first full day of negotiations had seen some positive signals. "I think the general feeling was that international climate negotiations have again started moving ahead," he said.
Also, there is progress on some issues of the envisioned climate treaty such as the safeguarding of the Earth's forests, the exchange of technology and