“We really need countries to fight to keep in the high ambition options on climate finance, the long term decarbonisation goal and a ratchet mechanism to ensure the agreement evolves to meet the needs of a changing world”.
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Earnest said the US President is closely following the developments in Paris where more than 180 countries are trying to hammer out a deal on climate change.
That Australia was not invited to be part of the so-called “coalition of ambition” was less a snub than a reflection that the USA and European Union were attempting to work with poor developing countries in a bid to breakdown the still lingering rich-poor divide at the talks.
Australia isn’t in the coalition and Ms Bishop couldn’t confirm if it had been invited.
The additional aid, announced by John Kerry, the secretary of state, came as part of an all-out offensive by the White House and administration officials to seal a deal at Paris.
The US says it can be included in the text but there must be no mention of the word compensation.
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.
A draft deal has already been worked out, but a host of disagreements remain, nearly all related to defining the obligations and expectations of rich and poor countries.
“I told everyone to be ready to work this night and tomorrow, without discontinuation, probably”, he said.
Some negotiators were preparing mattresses and extra provisions for what is expected to be marathon talks, likely to run past the Friday deadline.
“The basic answer is the lower the better, but it will be a big challenge to stay under two [degrees]”. A treaty is desirable, because it would be binding and countries can be penalized if they don’t honor it. However, a treaty would require ratification by the US Congress, which is unlikely to pass. A deal that doesn’t include the US would essentially render it inoperable.
India and Brazil, along with China and the USA, are among the world’s top producers of greenhouse gases that warm the planet, noted the Times. “And 1.5, I would say most technical experts would dispute that 1.5 is attainable”, said John Holdren, the assistant to the president for science and technology.
Xie Zhenhua, China’s chief climate envoy, later told the evening plenary session: “It is an open text and a balanced text”.
He said it’s down to 29 pages, from a 48-page version released Saturday. Both phrases are now in the text, and show that the agreement is not only about finance from developed countries to developing countries, but also about shifting the flow of investments across entire economies all over the world.
“Like polluters, I guess”, she says. “It is a good thing, because otherwise they would still be standing by their positions”.
A draft agreement was released on Wednesday which has left many controversial questions still unresolved.
Kerry, speaking at the conference outside Paris, announced Wednesday that the US will double its contribution to helping vulnerable nations adapt to the effects of climate change, increasing grant money to $860 million from $430 million by 2020. Now for the first time the distinction between responsible west and victim developing countries has been eliminated.
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While progress edged forward on some fronts, they retreated on others. The ICS is representing global maritime shipping at COP21. Finance is also essential since we know that the impacts of climate change are real and being felt by communities that have contributed the least to this problem.
