Bali High (Hopes) or Low (Expectations)?

The UN Climate Change Conference gets under way today in Bali (BBC Report)

UNFCCC Executive Director Yvo de Boer urged the international community to use the summit to take "concrete steps" towards curbing climate change.

"We urgently need to take increased action, given climate change predictions and the corresponding global adaptation needs," he said in his welcome message to delegates.

"In the context of climate change, projections of economic growth and increases in energy demand over the next 20 years, especially in developing countries, point to the urgent need to green these trends."

We will see how the government representatives gathered there respond to the latest warnings from the IPCC.

Greenpeace UK have links to various Greenpeace bloggers from around the world commenting on the Bali conference.

Here is the Friends of the Earth (UK) press release on the Bali talks.

Friends of the Earth wants to see a firm commitment by developed countries and a strengthening in some of the Kyoto Protocol mechanisms that currently allow industrialised countries to offset their carbon emissions at the expense of people in developing countries. Friends of the Earth is concerned that a reliance on market-based solutions is failing to reduce global carbon emissions whilst allowing companies to continue business as usual.

Friends of the Earth is urging negotiators to:

* Commit to at least a 40% reduction in 1990 levels of greenhouse gases by 2020 from industrialised countries
* Agree a timetable for negotiations to establish an international framework for major emission cuts post 2012, with legally binding burden-sharing of emissions reductions based on historical responsibility;
* Agree a major increase in funding for the world's most vulnerable countries to enable them to develop low carbon economies and adapt and build resilience against the impacts of climate change;
* Establish an independent verification system to ensure emissions reductions and financing obligations are met, with stringent penalties for non-compliance.

There is an opportunity this weekend to apply pressure for action through the global actions that are planned for Saturday 8th December. In the UK there is a demonstration planned for London, organised by the Campaign Against Climate Change.