Mission Impossible: UN Climate Talks Open in Barcelona Today

With less than six weeks to go for a key summit in Copenhagen, a final attempt to iron out differences between industrialized and developing nations on a climate deal gets underway in Barcelona, Spain today.

The UN climate talks in Barcelona are the last chance for negotiators to work out a draft before the December 7-18 Copenhagen summit.

An insider providing a preview into the mood however has termed the Barcelo0na attempts as “mission impossible”.

Negotiators from across the world will meet in the Danish capital of Copenhagen to find an alternative to the Kyoto Protocol, which stresses that industrialized and developing nations should shoulder “common but differentiated responsibilities” to tackle global warming.

The protocol and other UN conventions require developed economies to commit to mandatory carbon reduction but allow developing countries to act voluntarily. Setting binding emissions targets, for both the worlds, is one of the tasks weighing down a potential agreement.

The other factor still to be addressed is that of the money rich nations should contribute to help poorer ones reduce their emissions and adapt to climate impacts