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Press conference video statement

6 November

UNFCCC Executive Secretary Yvo de Boer addressing the media on the last dayof the Barcelona Climate Change Talks.
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Addressing the media on the final day of the Barcelona talks, Yvo de Boersaid that progress had been made during the week and that he was confident thatCopenhagen would deliver a strong deal, which must include the immediate implementationof key actions in developing countries.

Mr. de Boer spoke about the strong sense that the Kyoto Protocol needs tocontinue. He also said that the Copehagen agreement must record, in black andwhite, the accountable commitments of individual governments.

He stressed the urgency for industrialized countries to raise their ambitionsand, in particular, the importance of the U.S. announcing a clear, numericalmid-term emissions target. There was also a need, he said, for industrializednations to provide clarity on the amount of short- and long-term finance to whichthey will commit.

With Copenhagen just four weeks away, Mr. de Boer said that Barcelona hadunderlined both in a dramatic and in a quiet way that commitment and compromisewill make Copenhagen the turning point.

2 November

UNFCCC Executive Secretary Yvo de Boer addressing the media on the opening day of the Barcelona Climate Change Talks.
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Speaking to the press on the opening day of the Barcelona Climate Change Talks, Yvo de Boer said the two-year Bali mandate to deliver a comprehensive, fair and effective answer to the climate threat must now be fulfilled. He underlined that over 100 world leaders committed to success in Copenhagen at the New York Summit on Climate Change in September.

While the Barcelona meeting is unlikely to resolve the big issues on finance and emission reduction targets, it is critical in terms of putting the essential architecture in place to make a Copenhagen agreed outcome function.

Highlighting the significant advances in the negotiations on adaptation, technology transfer, capacity-building and reducing emissions from deforestation (REDD), he said Barcelona can shape these advances into language that can make them essential components of a Copenhagen agreed outcome.

Mr. de Boer said that some details of implementation will be left till after Copenhagen, but Copenhagen can and must capture a result to which nations can be held accountable.

Photos

AWG-LCA Closing Plenary

AWG-KP Closing Plenary

Yvo de Boer addressing the media at the final press conference

Reporters taking notes

Yvo de Boer receives TckTckTck clock

NGOs make their voices heard

A hive of activity in the corridors of the conference venue

Delegates rushing to meet schedules

Participants finding their way around on the opening day

Full house at the computer centre