The UN's December 2009 meeting in Copenhagen is supposed to be the final negotiations on a new set of targets for international cooperation on climate change. Some countries view these negotiations as an update of the Kyoto Protocol's original emissions reductions, set to expire in 2012. However, the framework of legally binding emissions targets for developed countries and none for developing nations is opposed by the United States, which continues to refuse ratification. As a consequence, many developed countries now are looking to create an entirely new framework. The two most controversial elements of the Copenhagen meeting will be whether the Kyoto framework continues and whether developing countries will agree to specific binding commitments. The consensus among experts is that, at best, Copenhagen will provide a framework for further negotiations going into 2010 and beyond, though some are optimistic that the conference will produce agreements on important issues such as financing and deforestation. Senior Fellow Michael Levi writes in Foreign Affairs that one of the "biggest prizes" from Copenhagen could be an international agreement on a process for measuring, reporting, and verifying (MRV) greenhouse gas reductions.
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