COP21: Final push for climate deal amid ‘optimism’
Negotiators at the Paris summit aim to wrap up a global agreement to curb climate change on Saturday – a day later than expected. “We are nearly there. I’m optimistic,” said French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius, who is chairing the summit. Efforts to forge a deal faltered on Friday, forcing the talks to overrun.
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said the negotiations were the “most complicated, most difficult, but, most important for humanity”.
Mr Fabius told reporters in Paris that he would present a new version of the draft text on Saturday morning at 0800 GMT, which he was “sure” would be approved and “a big step forward for humanity as a whole”. “We are almost at the end of the road and I am optimistic,” he added.
The summit is entering a final push to try to secure a global agreement that would stake out a long-term strategy for dealing with climate change. However, there are still some unresolved issues.
What are the sticking points?
- Climate finance: How do countries pay for efforts to reduce, stop and cope with the effects of climate change?
- Differentiation: Related to the finance problem is how do we “differentiate” between developed countries, who can afford to donate money, and developing countries who need support? Richer nations want emerging economies to take on more of the burden of cutting emissions, and providing finance to the very poor nations hit by the impacts of higher temperatures.
- Overall goal: What is the overall target? Should nations try to limit global rises in temperature to 2C or 1.5C or by “well below 2C” – above what they were in pre-industrial times? The global average temperature has already risen by roughly 1C.
Latest Version of the draft Agreement
Fonte: BBC
