The UN has postponed the deadline for Copenhagen to reduce emissions

The secretary of the UN Climate Change, Yvo de Boer, has decided to postpone the deadline of Jan. 31, set by the agreement of the Copenhagen Summit for countries to commit to specific numbers to reduce their CO2 emissions.

In what marks a further setback in the fight against global warming, the UN representative has acknowledged that it is unrealistic that all countries undertake before the end of next week, and admits now that the deadline set by the agreement of the Danish capital is "flexible".

"I do not expect everyone to respect the deadline. Countries are not obliged to accede, but to indicate whether they want to associate with the Copenhagen agreement," explained de Boer in a press conference in Bonn.

It was assumed that the commitments agreed to January 31 represented the first step established by the minimum agreement reached at the last day of the Conference on Climate, which fell far short of initial expectations. The fundamental objective of the pact is to ensure that all countries cut their emissions so that global temperatures rise no more than 2 degrees.

To date, only 10 days of the deadline, only 20 of the 192 participating countries joined the agreement.
Cooling Off Period

De Boer acknowledged that the Copenhagen summit did not yield results as satisfactory as those that were expected, but a foundation for further work. "Now we are in a period of reflection, which will discuss," he said.

The UN representative said that Copenhagen served to establish some key points important as the financial conditions to mitigate the economic effects that will combat climate change in developing countries.

From Bonn, De Boer urged industrialized countries to reserve their respective budget allocations for this purpose, as it has done already, as noted, the European Commission (EC).

The Copenhagen agreement established a total fund of 10,000 million between 2010 and 2012 to help the most vulnerable countries cope with climate change impacts, and 100,000 million annually from 2020 to mitigation and adaptation.
The hope of Mexico

De Boer also said that in early February to prepare for travel to Mexico with President Felipe Calderón, the next climate summit in December 2010.

The executive secretary curbed expectations of a binding agreement already in Mexico and noted that 15 to 20 countries with which it has held talks in recent weeks, hoping that the next summit out "conclusions" that can later be converted into a "legal package .

He also stressed that Mexico "can not be the last word" in relation to targets for reducing polluting gases, since the figures currently being considered are still far from what is required by the scientific community to really tackle climate change .

He recalled that scientists speak of a reduction of 50 percent-80 in the case of industrialized countries until mid-century.