Sustainability and Climate change: Durban

Global leaders met in Durban for the annual UN climate change summit known as COP17* which resulted in:

• The launch of the Durban Platform for Enhanced Action, “to develop a protocol, another legal instrument or an agreed outcome with legal force under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change applicable to all Parties”.
• Agreement of a second commitment period under the Kyoto Protocol.
• The set up of the Green Climate Fund.

Click here to read our reaction to this and our thoughts on what this will mean for business.

David Derbyshire talks to Richard Gledhill, Jonathan Grant and Celine Herweijer from our Sustainability and Climate Change team about the outcome from the Durban Climate Change summit and what this will mean for business.

Read the full transcript.

Members of our sustainability and climate change team were on the ground in Durban, and produced briefings and analysis throughout the summit. In particular, we asked the question “how binding is legally binding?”

* The short form of COP17/CMP7 stands for the 17th of Conference of the Parties of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), and for the 7th Conference of the Parties which serves as the meeting of the Parties to the Kyoto Protocol (CMP). ‘Parties’ refers to all the countries that signed and ratified the international treaties, committing to observe and comply with their terms on international cooperation against climate change.