Thursday 28th June, INC4 day 2
Although numerous contact groups have been working both in parallel to the plenary session and some also late into the evening, only small steps were made towards consensus on Day 2 of negotiations. Perhaps the most significant progress was made on the area of contaminated sites with some final agreed text being sent to the lawyers. In other areas, disagreement continued. In the most contentious section – emissions and releases – there was continued disagreement between the possible approaches with some countries favoring BAT while others preferred national action plans. India and China continue to stall discussion somewhat by focussing on the significant challenge/investment which would be required by their growing economies. In the related contact group on financial support, some countries favored technology transfer mechanisms whilst others called for a stand-alone financial mechanism with dedicated funds.
And so it would seem that those present at INC4 still have significant work ahead of them over the weekend to produce a text which can be considered final by the UNEP lawyers.
