International Campaigns

What Happened in Bali

The Bali conference launched formal negotiations on a new, post-2012, international global warming agreement and set a firm deadline for its adoption in December 2009, when the 15th Conference of the Parties will meet in Copenhagen, Denmark. The outline of those negotiations is contained in the Bali Action Plan, approved in a dramatic conclusion to the talks on December 15, 2007.

One of the most important new developments in Bali was the fact that developing countries came to the table willing to discuss emission reductions of their own.  The Bali Action Plan opens discussion on "measurable, verifiable and reportable" emission reduction actions that may be undertaken by developing countries. While the developing countries stepped up and brought this new position to Bali, the United States maintained its long-held rejection of binding numerical commitments for emission reduction targets and renewed its obstructionist behavior of previous climate change talks.

What the developing countries wanted in exchange for their willingness to consider making reduction commitments was assurance from the developed nations that they would help them acquire cleaner technologies.  On the final day of the conference, India proposed that the same language used to describe mitigation actions, “measurable, verifiable and reportable,” also be applied to technology transfer and financing assistance from developed countries.  The meeting almost ended without an agreement to launch negotiations when the U.S. stood to oppose this concession.  However, when its traditional cast of allies, including Canada, Japan, and Australia (who ratified Kyoto on the second day of the talks), refused to join this position and the U.S. was faced with the possibility of being solely responsible for the breakdown of the negotiations, the U.S. backed down and the language was adopted.