Washington, 1 May 2010

Forty environment ministers will aim to establish a political position ahead of Bonn climate talks. Germany and Mexico will jointly host the Petersberg climate dialogue outside Bonn from 2 to 4 May to convene environment and climate ministers to discuss “concrete steps” on a handful of key issues and the role of the Copenhagen Accord. This informal meeting will precede the next formal round of climate treaty negotiations that will take place in Bonn, Germany from 31 May to 11 June.

The aim of the meeting is to reinvigorate international climate talks in the lead-up to the two-week gathering in Bonn.

It will bring together a group of “45 states, in which all country groups are represented”, according to the German environment ministry.

The groups are based on geographical location and affiliation with key negotiating blocs of developed, developing and “newly industrialising” countries, the ministry said.

The participating ministers will be joined by the chairs of the working groups for both negotiating tracks of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change ( UNFCCC).

They will break down into working groups to discuss six “key topics in more depth”:

• Mitigation and reporting (chaired by South Africa/Australia)
• Adaptation (chaired by Bangladesh/Spain)
• Carbon markets (chaired by European commission/Colombia)
• Financing (chaired by Norway/Ghana)
• Technology (chaired by India/ New Zealand)
• Reducing emissions from deforestation and degradation (Redd) (chaired by Indonesia/Brazil)

German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who introduced the proposal for the dialogue during the UN climate summit in Copenhagen last December, will open the meeting with Mexican President Felipe Calderon.

Mexico will host the next summit in Cancun from 29 November to 10 December.

The Petersberg dialogue will not conclude with the adoption of a formal resolution, but aims to “inform and facilitate UN negotiations."

Three days of climate talks in Bonn held earlier this month revealed the difficult road ahead for international negotiations.

Much of that conference was clouded by talk about whether the non-binding Copenhagen accord should or could fit into existing UN negotiating texts. 

The role of the accord will be one of the themes addressed during this weekend’s dialogue.

List of Participants:

1. Germany (host and co-chair)
2. Mexico (co-chair) 
3. Algeria 
4. Australia 
5. Bangladesh 
6. Barbados 
7. Belgium 
8. Brazil 
9. Canada 
10. China 
11. Colombia 
12. Costa Rica 
13. DR Congo 
14. Denmark 
15. Egypt 
16. Ethiopia 
17. European commission 
18. France 
19. Ghana 
20. Grenada 
21. India 
22. Indonesia
23. Italy 
24. Japan 
25. Maldives
26. Mali
27. Nepal
28. New Zealand
29. Norway
30. Papua New Guinea
31. Poland
32. Republic of Korea
33. Russia
34. Singapore
35. South Africa
36. Spain
37. Switzerland
38. Tanzania
39. Turkey 
40. United Arab Emirates
41. United Kingdom
42. USA
43. Yemen 
44. UNFCCC Yvo de Boer, Executive Secretary
45. AWG LCA-chair
46. AWG KP-chair

Ends --