Ministers tasked with securing a historic climate-saving pact in Paris sought yesterday to settle the most volatile flashpoints, such as mustering hundreds of billions for the developing world.
The 195-nation UN talks have been billed as the last chance to avert the worst consequences of global warming: droughts, floods, storms, and rising seas that will engulf islands.
To reach an elusive deal by Friday the ministers must first resolve a few decades-old disputes that have so far blocked the first truly universal climate pact.
Nations remain divided over how to finance developing nations to cope with global warming, how far to limit planetary overheating, how to share the burden between rich and poor nations, and how to review progress in slashing greenhouse gases.
“They are finally doing the dirty work of negotiating, which is very hard,” said Jennifer Morgan, a climate analyst observing the talks for the World Resources Institute.
“You are finally starting to see the really hard bargaining and arguing that has to happen. It is a good thing, otherwise they would still be standing in their positions.”
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.
“Those of us who have been watching these for a long time think there has been a spirit of cooperation,” Greenpeace political adviser Ruth Davis said. “But cooperation has to manifest itself in something real and meaningful.” She likened the complexity of the task to solving a 12-dimensional Rubik’s Cube. Taking effect in 2020, the Paris accord would seek to limit emissions of heat-trapping greenhouse gases driven by coal, oil and gas – the backbone of the world’s energy supply today. The goal is to limit global warming to under 2ºC from pre-Industrial Revolution levels.
Negotiations are making headway on every front, said France’s top negotiator, Laurence Tubiana. “We are advancing on everything,” she said. “There is no issue where we are blocked. None.”
One potential deal-buster is money.
Rich countries promised in 2009 to muster $100-billion a year from 2020 to help developing nations make the costly shift to clean energy, and to cope with the impacts of global warming. But how the pledged funds will be raised is still unclear – and developing countries are pushing for a promise that the amount will be ramped up beyond 2020.
Meanwhile, rich nations are insisting that developing giants work harder to tackle their greenhouse gases, noting that much of the world’s future emissions growth will come from their fast-growing economies.
Small island states at risk of being swamped in a warmer world are part of a big coalition of vulnerable nations pressing for a more ambitious accord of limiting planetary warming to less than 1.5ºC.
Ministers including US Secretary of State John Kerry are hammering out those toughest issues, Tubiana said.
Presiding officer and French foreign minister Laurent Fabius has charged the world’s ministers to deliver a draft accord by today, setting out options on the divisive issues.
Kerry said the “unleashed monster” had to be tamed. — AFP
Ministers tackle flashpoints on climate deal
The 195-nation UN talks have been billed as the last chance to avert the worst consequences of global warming: droughts, floods, storms, and rising seas that will engulf islands.
To reach an elusive deal by Friday the ministers must first resolve a few decades-old disputes that have so far blocked the first truly universal climate pact.
Nations remain divided over how to finance developing nations to cope with global warming, how far to limit planetary overheating, how to share the burden between rich and poor nations, and how to review progress in slashing greenhouse gases.
“They are finally doing the dirty work of negotiating, which is very hard,” said Jennifer Morgan, a climate analyst observing the talks for the World Resources Institute.
“You are finally starting to see the really hard bargaining and arguing that has to happen. It is a good thing, otherwise they would still be standing in their positions.”
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.
“Those of us who have been watching these for a long time think there has been a spirit of cooperation,” Greenpeace political adviser Ruth Davis said. “But cooperation has to manifest itself in something real and meaningful.” She likened the complexity of the task to solving a 12-dimensional Rubik’s Cube. Taking effect in 2020, the Paris accord would seek to limit emissions of heat-trapping greenhouse gases driven by coal, oil and gas – the backbone of the world’s energy supply today. The goal is to limit global warming to under 2ºC from pre-Industrial Revolution levels.
Negotiations are making headway on every front, said France’s top negotiator, Laurence Tubiana. “We are advancing on everything,” she said. “There is no issue where we are blocked. None.”
One potential deal-buster is money.
Rich countries promised in 2009 to muster $100-billion a year from 2020 to help developing nations make the costly shift to clean energy, and to cope with the impacts of global warming. But how the pledged funds will be raised is still unclear – and developing countries are pushing for a promise that the amount will be ramped up beyond 2020.
Meanwhile, rich nations are insisting that developing giants work harder to tackle their greenhouse gases, noting that much of the world’s future emissions growth will come from their fast-growing economies.
Small island states at risk of being swamped in a warmer world are part of a big coalition of vulnerable nations pressing for a more ambitious accord of limiting planetary warming to less than 1.5ºC.
Ministers including US Secretary of State John Kerry are hammering out those toughest issues, Tubiana said.
Presiding officer and French foreign minister Laurent Fabius has charged the world’s ministers to deliver a draft accord by today, setting out options on the divisive issues.
Kerry said the “unleashed monster” had to be tamed. — AFP
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