Officials from 195 countries attending the U.N. Climate Change Conference in Paris have approved a draft text of a climate deal. President Francois Hollande is encouraging mayors of the world to get involved in fighting climate change and praising those that are already setting an example with low-emission buildings and public transport policies.
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Climate negotiators adopted a draft climate agreement Saturday that was cluttered with competing options, leaving ministers with the job of untangling key sticking points to create a lasting, universal pact to fight global warming.
The American actor-turned-environmental campaigner headlined a summit of local leaders from around the world on the sidelines of the United Nations climate conference, aiming to help inject some much-needed momentum into the talks. We are not at the end of the route.
Republicans have expressed doubt about the efficacy of the talks and accused Obama of unduly prioritizing climate change over the threat posed by radical Islamic terrorism.
According to the Guardian in the U.K., China’s chief climate-change negotiator, Su Wei, compared the talks with a recipe, saying, “It has laid a solid foundation for next week… like when we cook a meal, you need to have all the seasonings and ingredients and recipes, but next week is the actual cooking”.
Following the draft’s adoption, South Africa’s negotiator Nozipho Mxakato-Diseko, speaking on behalf of more than 130 developing nations, said, “In the words of Nelson Mandela, it always seems impossible until it is done”.
The key, analysts say, will be agreement on a review every five years atwhich nations’ commitments may be strengthened, a so-called ratcheting-up mechanism.
“With your help, here come the trees”, he told climate delegations.
“Perhaps this is the most exciting time in human history”, said actor and environmentalist Sean Penn at a special event at the conference.
In 10 years, the activist said, he hopes “we’ll be looking at a country that has gone from import dependence to export economy, to enhanced education and to a handsome place that is part of that interconnected climate environment that we are here to make pledges to”.
But the United States, China, India and some of the other biggest polluting nations want to enshrine 2 degrees C as the goal, which would allow them to emit more gases for longer.
Among the many disagreements that remain in the 48-page document are a number related to the expectations of rich and poor countries, as well as nations somewhere in the middle.
Ministers now have a week to negotiate the final outcome.
Many nations said the draft, the result of four years of work since the process was launched in Durban in 2011, left too many issues unresolved. “I’m probably not the only one who feels really emotional about this”.
Poorer countries have demanded finance to pay for the costly shift to renewable technologies, as well as to cope with climate change.
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Some members of a developing country bloc are pushing back, saying they’re anxious that rich countries are trying to dodge their responsibilities to deal with climate change.
