Journey to Cancun, Mexico 2010: Is there hope?

This briefing by the Institute for Security Studies discusses the expectations and challenges surrounding the 16th Conference of Parties to the UNFCCC in Cancun, Mexico, following the perceived disappointment of the 2009 Copenhagen summit.

• The 16th Conference of Parties to the UNFCCC is scheduled for November 29th to December 10th in Cancun, Mexico, involving representatives from 194 countries. This meeting follows the December 2009 Copenhagen outcome, which was viewed as a disappointment due to the lack of a binding agreement, though it highlighted the difficulty of negotiating across diverse political and economic interests.
• Between the Copenhagen and Cancun summits, several meetings were held to maintain momentum toward a global climate agreement, including UNFCCC sessions in Bonn, Germany in April and June 2010, the Major Economies’ Forum on Energy and Climate Change, and the Tianjin-China Climate Change Conference in October.
• Building trust between developed and developing nations is a critical factor for the success of the Cancun talks. This requires developed countries to provide tangible evidence that their pledge of $30 billion in financing for 2010-2012—intended for clean energy technology, reducing deforestation emissions, and climate adaptation—is being converted into actual funding.
• To achieve progress in Cancun, the author suggests abandoning the principle that "nothing is agreed, until everything is agreed" in favor of a component-by-component approach. Key areas for potential agreement include Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation (REDD), clean energy technology deployment, and improving national resilience to climate impacts.

APA

Mateche, D. E. (2010). Journey to Cancun, Mexico 2010: Is there hope? Institute for Security Studies. https://issafrica.org/iss-today/journey-to-cancun-mexico-2010-is-there-hope

Chicago

Mateche, Damaris E. Journey to Cancun, Mexico 2010: Is there hope? Institute for Security Studies, 2010. https://issafrica.org/iss-today/journey-to-cancun-mexico-2010-is-there-hope.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Mateche |first1=Damaris E. |title=Journey to Cancun, Mexico 2010: Is there hope? |publisher=Institute for Security Studies |date=2010 |url=https://issafrica.org/iss-today/journey-to-cancun-mexico-2010-is-there-hope |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{mateche2010journey, author = {Mateche, Damaris E.}, title = {{Journey to Cancun, Mexico 2010: Is there hope?}}, institution = {Institute for Security Studies}, year = {2010}, url = {https://issafrica.org/iss-today/journey-to-cancun-mexico-2010-is-there-hope}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }