If there was any doubt remaining, the US Delegation has now confirmed that there will be no treaty coming out of Copenhagen.
Two years of negotiations at the bureaucratic level have failed to create the grounds for bridging significant remaining gaps between developed and developing countries over a post-2012 climate change regime. No number of Heads of State at this point could resolve these differences in the hours remaining.
There will be a political statement at best confirming the continuation of the two track negotiation process (LCA and Kyoto Protocol), with a new timetable to complete a treaty by mid or late 2010.
Today has been more focused on work than at any previous time over the past fortnight. If a developed/developing country consensus can be reached overnight, this fortnight will be the beginning of a negotiation to finalise the detail of a treaty that can be signed by the end of 2010.
With less than 24 hours remaining, attention is turning toward a warmer climate at COP 16 in Mexico City.
