Immediately after the formal announcement of delay of the talks until Saturday, Jennifer Morgan, Global Director, Climate Program, WRI, said: “All countries have to be ready to do the maximum they can to get a truly ambitious and fair agreement in Paris”.
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Global climate talks are taking longer than planned to overcome disputes and will extend into Saturday, French foreign minister Laurent Fabius said.
This time is different from past talks, because the French organizers pushed countries to set their own emissions targets before the Paris conference, and the US and China, who have clashed over climate in the past, bridged key differences earlier this year. It includes developing-nation giants such as China and India, oil-producing states such as Saudi Arabia and staunch critics of the West such as Iran, Venezuela and Bolivia.
“If we add the effect of climate change… you really have the elements of a flawless storm”, he said on the sidelines of the Paris climate talks “We are here…to find out how to weather that storm”.
The concerns of the developing countries including India are there in the new version so that they can go to the negotiation with their options on differentiation, finance, stocktake and long-term goal intact.
A new draft version of the agreement – which aims to put the world on a path to avoiding unsafe climate change – has been circulated at the United Nations summit in Paris, with mixed reaction from campaigners, businesses and observers.
The French host of United Nations talks aimed at saving mankind from climate catastrophe said Thursday a historic accord was “extremely close”, but called for unprecedented compromises during a second night of non-stop negotiations.
US Secretary of State John Kerry (right), with White House senior advisor Brian Deese (left) and US Special Envoy for Climate Change Todd Stern (centre).
The latest version, delivered after consultations throughout Thursday, was 27 pages.
Money, money, money – Bowing to a demand of developing countries, rich nations will mobilise $100 billion (92 billion euros) to help them cope with the cost of climate change.
That draft suggested compromises were emerging in some sections. That means nations have agreed to commit to cut their fossil-fuel emissions to such a low level that the Earth’s natural mechanisms for absorbing these gases – through plants and other means – can offset man-made emissions.
“There’s a lot of work still to be done, particularly on the issue of climate finance and on the issue of the developing/developed country divide … but I remain hopeful that we will secure an agreement”, she said. Average surface temperatures have already risen by 1C, and greenhouse gases already emitted and locked into the system are likely to push the rise past 1.5C within a few decades.
The talks have previously been guided by a goal to limit warming to 2 degrees C, compared with preindustrial times. “It’s time to come to an agreement”, he told the parties while releasing the text late on Thursday night.
Climate negotiations continued until about 5 a.m. Thursday (0400 GMT, 11 p.m. EST Wednesday) before resuming midmorning, and a new draft accord is expected to be released sometime during the day, a French diplomat said.
If included “this forms the basis of a strong series of cycles”, said Thomas Spencer from the Paris-based IDDRI think tank.
Those differences have grown in the run-up to the Paris summit, as vulnerable countries – many grouped into the 20-member Climate Vulnerable Forum – see global warming as an existential threat, not an economic cost.
“But the atmosphere is good, things are positive, things are going in the right direction”, he said.
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However, scientific analyses show the emissions targets that more than 180 countries have presented won’t be enough to limit warming even to 2 degrees C. The draft invited governments to “update” their emissions targets every five years, but didn’t require them to improve them.
