Realism in the climate negotiation

What you measure determines policy
Another round of the annual climate meetings is going to take place and the most ambitious outcome will be limited negotiations on some elements, because there is as yet no shared vision of the problem and what to do about it.

The negotiations at Doha are important because they will establish a framework for the new regime through agreement on what is to be measured, because a consensus on who has to do what is more difficult. Since what is measured determines policy, this step will establish the framework for the new regime, even as negotiations continue around defining the (evolving) principles and provisions of the Convention.

Developing countries have so far been reactive rather than proactive because reporting of their national actions was being reviewed for accuracy rather than adequacy; consequently their concerns were limited to transfers of financial resources on concessional terms. Twenty years after the climate regime came into being the situation has changed in atleast three areas.

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