Negotiators spent another sleepless night, working towards adapting the Copenhagen Accord which emerged in the late hours of Friday (see previous post). The main challenge was to seek consensus amongst all parties on this Accord. Fault lines were clear right from the start, as several countries such as Venezuela and Sudan objected to the process through which this document was born - wishing to change the official status of this document to what is essentially reference material.

The negotiations reached a stalemate at around 8 AM - at which time the COP President adjourned the meeting and behind-the-scenes consultations took place. This went on for a few hours, with small groups of delegates bunched around each other in various corners of the huge hall.

Then at roughly 9:30 AM, there was a sudden announcement that a solution was found!! The wording is now that parties can opt in onto a list to "take note" of the Accord (c.f. adopt it - which has a more powerful meaning) - whilst also mandating the AWG-KP and AWG-LCA with one more year of work. The plenary was temporarily filled with an air of relief and clapping of hands.

Later, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon made a speech mentioning that this outcome was a good start, but that there was much more to do to ensure that this would become legally binding by the COP16 next year in Mexico City.

The Bridging the Gap team leaves Copenhagen after witnessing this historical moment, and after two weeks of intensive work. We all wish you a very happy holiday season and a happy new year!! Let's hope that we can get transport on the climate agenda in 2010, when the discussions enter into details.