“I am an optimist or I wouldn’t be doing what I’m doing”, Kerry told conference-goers at a meeting in Paris organised by tech news site Mashable. “I would anticipate that over the course of this week as the negotiations continue, the President would be in touch with other world leaders”, he said, adding that Obama is getting regular updates from his team in Paris about the status of the negotiations.
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Ministers from around the planet launched a five-day scramble in Paris Monday to answer “the call of history” with a deal to spare mankind from climate disaster.
“India is here to ensure that rich countries pay back their debt for overdraft that they have drawn on the carbon space”, said Prakash Javadekar, India’s environment minister.
Rich countries promised in 2009 to muster $100 billion (92 billion euros) a year from 2020 to help developing nations make the costly shift to clean energy, and to cope with the impact of global warming.
Kerry said Tuesday that he would support a 1.5-degree target as an aspirational goal, one that countries may seek to achieve in the future as technology improves. Developing countries have so far been rejecting any such proposal, citing the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change that mandates a group of 25 rich and industrialised countries only to provide climate finance.
De Guzman on Tuesday submitted a report by the Special Procedures of the United Nations that confirmed a 2 C warming would have an adverse impact on human rights – “including the right to life, to health and to food, some of the most basic human rights”, said de Guzman. USA negotiators, while repeatedly saying that developed countries will fulfil their commitments in the post-2020 period, have shied away from mentioning the $ 100 billion figure.
“Forty years from now I don’t want them saying grandpa you were a senator, why didn’t you do anything?” he said. There are many developing countries that could significantly benefit from finance in order to unleash low-carbon growth and climate resilience. “Not to stand in the way of them”.
The head of China’s delegation at United Nations climate talks says that the heavy smog in Beijing in recent days shows how important it is for the country to transition to clean sources of energy. These and other countries that are most vulnerable to climate change view a more aggressive temperature goal as essential to their long-term survival and will likely remain steadfast in their support for such a goal in the agreement to be finalized by December 11.
He pointed to London, which had serious problems with smog linked to pollution from coal plants in the 20th century. “We urge developed countries to fulfil their obligation…, while the developing countries, on a voluntary basis, can also contribute….”, Xie said.
Fossil fuels still meet about 80 percent of the world’s energy demand, though the share of renewable energy including hydro, solar and wind power is growing, particularly in electricity generation.
During a press conference, Miguel Arias Canete, EU Climate Commissioner, said, “We need the United States on board and we have to find a solution”.
Ban “made some suggestions on things we are already focused on and trying to resolve”, Kerry said. The over-exploitation of so much of the country’s forest cover has deprived people of food and shelter, and it has also undermined defenses against the effects of climate change and disease.
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With leaders and representatives from nearly every nation on earth convening in Paris, there is an historic opportunity to strike a far-reaching and durable climate agreement.
