Climate Negotiators Stake Out Initial Positions in Run-Up to COP17 UN Treaty Talks in Durban, South Africa

Climate change treaty negotiating teams are staking out initial positions in the run-up to the UN’s climate change talks in Durban next week. The US is setting “a high bar” at the outset, analysts say, by refusing to discuss the legal form of a binding agreement to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and requesting assurances that large, fast industrializing countries would be bound by the same commitments.