On Saturday, delegates from the 196 participant countries managed to meet a deadline and agreed to accept one of two draft texts created to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions that are changing the world climate. “We understand the concerns they have because of the political situation they have in the Congress”.
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Over the course of the week, Kerry and other foreign and environment ministers will join the talks to negotiate what is envisioned to become a lasting, universal pact to fight global warming. People around the world are expecting that world leaders will do something more than just “half-measures” to tackle climate change, he added. It called for the creation of a “mechanism to contribute to the mitigation of greenhouse gas emissions and to support sustainable development [in developing countries]”, adding that such a mechanism would be introduced on a voluntary basis in different countries and would see promised emission reductions “certified by operational entities to be designated by the supervisory body”. India and other major developing countries insist on their right to use some fossil fuels to advance their economies – just like Western nations have done since the Industrial Revolution. Obama’s White House has worked to show the worldwide community that the U.S.is serious about addressing climate change, starting with the Clean Power Plan, which aims to reduce USA carbon dioxide emissions from power plants by 32% by 2030 from 2005 levels.
With the backroom negotiations seeing developed countries demanding a Paris agreement that nearly exclusively focuses on reducing emissions and dilutes the emphasis on their obligation to provide finance and technology, the four ministers said, “The BASIC countries are working for a Paris agreement that addresses in a balanced manner all elements identified in the Durban Mandate”.
How to define those responsibilities is the biggest challenge in the Paris talks.
Nozipho Mxakato-Diseko, who leads the main group of more than 130 developing nations in Paris, accused rich nations of spending “an incredible amount of effort trying to divide the group” by giving aid only to the most vulnerable countries rather than helping all.
Meanwhile, in China, Beijing issued its first ever red alert for smog, urging schools to close and invoking restrictions on factories and traffic.
“It’s up to the ministers and officials of every government to remove options, find compromises, and make decisions on the hard issues without undermining the ambition”, of the climate pact.
Observers said a new confidence was emerging in Paris, a hopeful sign six years after the spectacular failure of the last attempt to reach a global deal, which collapsed in Copenhagen, fractured by distrust between rich and poor countries.
It is already certain that the national emissions pledges made ahead of Paris will not be enough to prevent global temperatures rising past a unsafe threshold of 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 Fahrenheit) over pre-industrial times. Xie Zhenhua, China’s special representative for climate change, confirmed on Tuesday that his country will support five year reviews.
The burden-sharing row dates back to 1992, when the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) was set up at the Rio Earth Summit.
“If we save Tuvalu we save the world”, Tuvalu Prime Minister Enele Sosene Sopoaga told the conference.
“Let me be very clear about it: Climate finance is a pure role for the annex one countries”, said Energy Minister Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber of the United Arab Emirates, referring to the countries on the rich list. We must ask ourselves, what kind of world do we want for our children, and our children’s children?
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United Nations climate chief Christiana Figueres said she’s kept up at night by a vision of “the eyes of seven generations beyond me asking me, ‘What did you do?'” Some hope that these continuing processes will enable nations to exceed and improve on the initial Paris-agreed targets in future years to achieve the targets that scientists tell us are necessary to avoid catastrophe.
