Speaking to EurActiv, Christoffersen urged leaders to avoid falling into the trap of the Doha round at all costs. "I have been living the Doha round closely […] The moment is never right and once you get in this logic, it is a slippery slope," he said.
Over the last weeks and months, Denmark, hosting the UN climate conference, has engaged in intensive consultations with world leaders in order to break the deadlock over global climate negotiations to agree on a post-Kyoto treaty to reduce global emissions.
"We should avoid that international uncertainty should become an excuse for postponing policy decisions at national level, also for the sake of the business community, which needs certainty," he said.
The scariest scenario would see countries and regions start to protect themselves with trade restrictions to avoid unfavourable situations, which would jeopardise progress achieved on climate change, the ambassador said.
"We have to increase the pressure. We have to underline the risks of not reaching an agreement. I will not try today to define a compromise. This is not just a question of horse-trading," he added, stressing that having a legal text is less important than having an agreement on substance.
"Substance precedes form," he argued, noting that underlying criticism of the fact that talks will likely drag on for at least another year was drawing attention to the wrong issue.
The Danes have reiterated that their objective, as hosts of the conference, is to reach one agreement with a dual purpose. The first of these is to provide political guidance for United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change negotiations on the new legal framework that will stretch beyond the conference in Copenhagen (COP-15). The second is to adopt a binding political agreement which would enter into force immediately and hence provide for immediate action to combat global warming.
The agreement has to be ambitious in its objectives and practical in its function, said the ambassador.
According to Danish sources, the agreement will be short and will address four main political questions at the same time: emission reduction targets for industrialised countries, commitments to help developing countries, finance for adaptation and mitigation in developing countries and transparency, measurement, reporting and verification.
Christoffersen noted that the EU's proposal to make between €22 and €50 billion of international public money available per year by 2020 to finance climate efforts in poor countries is designed to maximise pressure on the rest of the world.
"We need a solution that does not slow down the momentum. Copenhagen should be the occasion to increase the momentum," Christoffersen said, adding that recent years have seen enormous movement, which brought the climate agenda to the top of the political agenda in many countries.
Poul Skytte Chrisoffersen was speaking to Daniela Vincenti-Mitchener.
