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Kerry joins Paris talks as UN warns of climate doom

A day earlier, Obama had spoken with his Brazilian counterpart.

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Obama and Rousseff spoke by phone on Monday. COP21 is by far the best chance we have to achieve a strong global agreement. The provinces also agreed to standardise how they track and measure greenhouse gas emissions. The group said it would continue to support other poor and developing countries as part of their bilateral agreement and south-south cooperation (cooperation among developing countries), but it would not be part of the Green Climate Fund (GCF) which is entirely the obligation of rich nations.

He said many activists, including low-laying countries, demand that the limit should be less than 1.5 degree Celsius. They have until Friday to come up with an accord.

UN talks aimed at saving mankind from the dire impacts of global warming entered their crunch phase yesterday with ministers beginning a frenetic week of negotiations to seal a historic 195-nation agreement in Paris.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry is mocking climate change doubters who downplay the effect of rising sea levels.

The Paris conference is the 21st time world governments have met to seek a joint solution to climate change – and is aiming at the most ambitious, long-lasting accord yet.

Using preliminary data through October 2015, the global team of emission trackers project that worldwide emissions this year will end up 200 million metric tons of carbon dioxide (220 million USA tons) less than the 35.9 billion metric tons (39.6 billion US tons) they calculated for 2014.

What we need from Paris, then, is an agreement that includes all countries and leaves no one behind.

European Climate Commissioner Miguel Arias Canete told journalists that developed countries now account for under 35 percent of global emissions.

It doesn’t resolve the question of the long-term goal of the accord – whether it is to remove carbon emissions from the economy altogether, or just reduce them.

They are likely to be included in a new worldwide framework to tackle global warming, now under discussion in Paris.

One of the most radical proposals called for an “international tribunal of climate justice” to deal with wealthy countries that don’t fulfill their commitments.

But the biggest developing countries staked out their familiar stance, calling for extra financing and rejecting the idea that all countries should work towards a uniform set of reporting rules. And we should keep that in mind in the aftermath and postmortem around Paris as opponents of climate action in the U.S. and overseas self-servingly judge the COP21 talks by a false all-or-nothing standard. “Everything can not be resolved here in Paris, let us leave something for future” climate meetings. “No”, she said. “But we’re certainly moving close”.

French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius, presiding over the conference, said he would deliver a streamlined draft for the deal by 1pm (1200 GMT) Wednesday, after receiving feedback from splinter groups haggling over the tough issues.

In his speech, Mr Kerry announced that the United States was going to double by 2020 the 400 million U.S. dollars (£265 million) a year in public grant money it made available to help developing countries adapt to the impacts of climate change. He did not elaborate.

Negotiators adopted a draft climate agreement Saturday that was cluttered with brackets and competing options, leaving ministers with the job of untangling key sticking points in what is envisioned to become a lasting, universal pact to fight global warming. Most of the smog is blamed on coal-fired power plants, along with vehicle emissions, construction and factory work.

His comments seem to parallel those of Todd Stern, the chief US negotiator.

“At this point, a transition to a low- or zero-carbon economy is 100 per cent possible, and I say 100 per cent unstoppable”.

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“Developed countries must agree to lead, and developing countries need to assume increasing responsibility in line with their capabilities”, Ban said.

UN warns of climate disaster if Paris pact fails