All frozen at the Summit,all wait for Obama and a miracle

In a clear indication that differences were not going to be resolved,the working group that is finalizing the long-term response to climate change — Ad-hoc Working Group on Long-term Cooperative Action,or AWG-LCA — circulated an amended draft text Tuesday after simply removing all contentious paragraphs,including the ones objected to by India,from its previous version. It said these were “to be elaborated”,but did not specify when.

Despite the African protest,backed by India,China and other developing countries,there was no forward movement on fixing emission reduction targets for rich countries — the responsibility of the other working group,called the AWG on Kyoto Protocol — for the period beyond 2012 when the first commitment period for Kyoto comes to an end.

Union Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh,who attended the ministerial meetings,did not sound hopeful about the outcome of the conference. “I think we would need to get a mandate for continuing negotiations in 2010 to bring about an agreed outcome,” he said.

A Group of 77 negotiator said there was a renewed effort by the rich countries to push through a proposal to enlist their reduction commitments in a separate paper outside of the Kyoto Protocol in the interim,alongside the voluntary “actions” that the developing countries had announced.

“Kyoto Protocol will unfortunately remain buried forever at the Bella Centre in Copenhagen,” he said.

With practically no time left for a concrete outcome now,the focus is entirely on the heads of states who start arriving here from tomorrow. Organizers and the host country are hoping desperately for a dignified outcome from them.

The resignation in the voice of UNFCCC executive secretary Yvo do Boer was palpable.

“Everything has been done that could conceivably be done by the host country. Now it is the turn of the world leaders to ensure that we get a result here,” he said.

The president of the conference,Connie Hedegaard,who is the energy and climate minister in the Danish government,said there were “big hindrances” in finalizing a comprehensive agreement. But she said there was still some scope for “success”.

“But it is very clear that the ministers would have to be extremely busy if we have to make this a success,” she said.