31 March 2010, London, UK

On 31 March 2010, Energy and Climate Change Secretary Ed Miliband presented the United Kingdom government’s action plan on international climate negotiations during the first meeting of the High Level Advisory Group on Climate Finance in London, United Kingdom.

During the meeting, Miliband stressed the importance of releasing as much fast-start funding as possible before the 16th Conference to the Parties (COP 16) to the UNFCCC in Mexico at the end of the year. Calling on other countries to release funds swiftly, UK Minister Gordon Brown said that "If we can solve this problem I believe we will be on our way to achieving a global agreement."

Furthermore, Mr. Miliband said the UK is willing to sign a new Kyoto Treaty in a unilateral move to revive climate change negotiations which have been stalled over discussions of the legal form of any final text. "We are determined to unblock the negotiations. We are willing to offer a second agreement under Kyoto, provided there is a separate legal treaty covering all other countries," said Miliband.

While the announcement is not in line with the official strategy of the European Union (EU), it is a diplomatic manoeuvre attempts to move forward the negotiations with developing countries on a legally-binding treaty. Developing countries had repeatedly requested further emission reduction targets for developed countries, after nations had submitted their targets to the UNFCCC at the beginning of the year.

"We are asking that developing countries internationalise, in a legally-binding agreement, the mitigation actions they take domestically," the document reads. Developing countries would, however, not be required to commit to specific emission reductions, nor would they be subjected to "any punitive compliance measures".

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