UN: Turn climate crisis into a climate compact

A downbeat mood in Bali today, where there is shock at the attack on the United Nations in Algeria. The ‘high-level segment' of the conference has just started with a minute's silence. Security has been stepped up a notch, delegates are back in suits, and Ministers and heads of state fill the plenary room.

UN Secretary General, Ban-Ki Moon starts proceedings by condemning the ‘outrageous' attack to the media throng here in Bali. UN staff, who served the ‘highest ideals of humanity', and innocent bystanders have died in a cowardly act, he says. Innocent civilians have also been murdered.

Then onto climate. For the SG, it is the ‘defining issue of our age' and the ‘moral challenge of our generation'. Science has spoken - now the world must act.

The SG says he is encouraged by progress on negotiations. There is an emerging consensus about what a new climate compact should look like. It needs to be comprehensive, with rich countries taking on deep emission cuts, and developing countries receiving incentives to grow along a cleaner development path.

But Ban stresses equity. "Climate change effects us all, but not all of us equally." The people who are least able to cope, and who have done least to cause the problem, will be hit hardest by the problem.

And, of course, there is still much to be done. Negotiations must be launched in Bali, he says, with an ambitious roadmap to achieve a secure climate. A tight deadline is essential. Anything less will be a failure.

And so we're off. A long day of speeches lies ahead. But the real work will carry on behind the scenes. We've reached the stage of the conference where doubt begins to creep in. Can core areas of disagreement be resolved? Is there enough time to bash out thousands of less critical, technical issues?

But that is why les grands fromages are here. What they say in public is one thing; whether they can clear bottlenecks in private is quite another.

The conference is now only three days from its planned conclusion. But those who have flights booked home on Saturday are beginning to look nervous. All-night negotiations and a late finish are very much on the cards...