Copenhagen

Oxfam called on the US to join Europe in laying its climate finance cards on the table as international climate talks opened in Barcelona today.

The European Union’s suggestion today of global public financing worth €22-€50 billion per year for developing countries to tackle climate change falls short of what is needed.

EU finance ministers failed today to reach a deal on how to pay for climate action in developing countries – a make or break issue in international climate talks.

President Obama's leadership has succeeded in setting a new tone that has instilled hope.... Now it is most urgent that the US and all nations work together to secure a better future.

As the second to last negotiations before Copenhagen draw to a close in Bangkok, three big sticking points remain. These issues show a lack of willingness of the EU and other industrialised countries to find common ground with developing countries.

Climate negotiations stuck: US becoming key obstacle on the road to Copenhagen. Rich countries have not put serious money on the table to help poor countries adapt to the escalating impacts of climate change.

Emeritus Archbishop Desmond Tutu and Mary Robinson, Honorary President of Oxfam International and former UN commissioner for human rights, will hear testimony from people living on the climate front line at a special tribunal in Cape Town.

The worst flooding the Philippines has seen in decades highlights the urgent need for US leadership to push UN climate change negotiations in Bangkok forward to help ensure the best chance of securing a global climate treaty in Copenhagen.

International aid organization Oxfam welcomed encouraging remarks made by heads of state at the UN Summit on Climate Change, but cautioned that it remains to be seen if they will be translated into a fair, ambitious and binding global treaty in Copenhagen this December.

Climate change affects poor people first and worst.