COP15 has now been closed to all but a very few observers. Yesterday, high level ministers began to arrive and Connie Hedegaard, the President of COP15, stepped down to allow the Danish Prime Minister to steer negotiations as the conference officially ends tomorrow.

Earlier in the week, the G77 and China walked out of negotiations more than once over issues related to finance and the extension of the Kyoto Protocol. Yet in the last 24 hours, there has been progress on a climate finance package with wide agreement on a ‘kick start fund’ worth $10 billion annually provided by developed countries during the period from 2010-2012. A final agreement on the total amount to be provided is expected by the end of this week by most negotiators.

In terms of markets and progress on negotiations related to CDM reform and REDD, there are draft texts that are on the table that negotiators are reviewing but there is a likelihood that they might not be agreed to before COP15 officially ends. 

However, we did learn that the UN contact group responsible for CDM reform has sent forward texts to negotiators albeit a lot of details need to be worked out. The text included language on E+/E-, inclusion of CCS as a project type, new standards on baseline scenarios, and to utilize interest collected on the CDM trust fund and other financial resources to cover the costs of the PDD, validation and verification for projects in countries that have fewer than 10 registered CDM projects up to date. 

Also in the text on CDM reform is a proposal for the CDM Executive Board to implement an appeals process after rulings are made. All of this text can be deleted or put on hold however should negotiators not come to an agreement in the next 24 hours.

As we are not able to access the COP15 venue for the remainder of this week, we are attending side events at a venue set up specifically to discuss the carbon markets.