Although far from earth-shattering, and still short of a binding agreement on emissions cuts, the results of COP16 made vital progress in a number of areas which could make a deal at next year's COP17 in South Africa much more likely.
In previous COPs, as the end draws nearer the pressure increases, and so the negotiations go on long into the night in an effort to make some progress and achieve something before proceedings conclude. Despite some innovative changes to the negotiation process made by the Mexican government, it is highly likely we'll see long and lengthy negotiations Friday night that may not conclude until the final hours of Saturday morning.
The Mexican government, which is hosting the UN climate change negotiations in Cancun, has gone to great lengths to lay to rest the ghosts of the Copenhagen negotiation process, which was haunted by the Danish text and secret negotiations between the U.S. and developing countries that led to the Copenhagen Accord.
The program to allow developed countries to offset their emissions through projects in the developing world was the focus of negotiations in Cancun this week, although progress was halting as time at the conference ticked away.
Although nearly everyone believes the world will not see a binding treaty coming out of the Cancun climate negotiations, there is cautious sense of optimism that the negotiations could hopefully deliver progress in some key areas.
Next week's Climate Change Conference in Cancún suffers from the profound disappointment of Copenhagen still firmly fixed in the world's memory, but there are still some important areas where progress can be made in Mexico.