Minister for Climate Change and Water, Senator Penny Wong, will travel to Spain today for three days of ministerial talks on climate change.

Hosted by the Danish Government, the Barcelona Ministerial Meeting will be held from 29-31 October in Barcelona.

Danish Prime Minister Rasmussen has highlighted the Meeting as an opportunity to kick-start the last remaining week of formal UN negotiations prior to the United Nations climate change conference in Copenhagen in December.

 “We are just weeks out from Copenhagen and at a critical stage in negotiations,” Senator Wong said.

“This is an important opportunity for countries to make progress on key issues central to achieving consensus in Copenhagen.”

Australia has put forward a proposal that would see a common framework for reflecting the mitigation efforts of all countries, based on the use of national schedules.

This approach would retain economy-wide targets for developed countries and require developing countries to record a suite of actions tailored to their national circumstances.

The Australian government is also actively engaged, through the G20 process and UN negotiations, in developing a credible approach to climate change financing. 

 “Australia will continue to press for an effective international political agreement at Copenhagen,’’ Senator Wong said.