With the seven days of negotiations left before the conference closes on Dec. 11, there are two alternative draft texts in circulation, which all nations agreed on Friday to accept as the basis for talks, Reuters says.
With the seven days of negotiations left before the conference closes on Dec. 11, there are two alternative draft texts in circulation, which all nations agreed on Friday to accept as the basis for talks, Reuters says.
The drafts still have numbers of brackets, marking points of disagreement on everything from finance for developing nations beyond 2020 to where to set the long-term goal for cutting or phasing out the use of fossil fuels. Yet there is optimism in the Paris air: at the same stage of Copenhagen summit, reminds Reuters, the drafts ran to 300 pages, while now these two texts are of 38 and 48 pages long.
"I'm optimistic," the Reuters cites Robert Stavins, director of Harvard University's Environmental Economics Program. "It's drastically different from Copenhagen."
Delegates from 195 countries at climate change talks in Paris are pressed for time as they have to produce a working text of a deal by Friday, exposing sticking points and fault lines, explains The Guardian. The final draft will be cut and sent to French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius by midday (11:00 GMT) on Saturday. After that, it will be sent to ministers to try to hammer out a deal next week.
The Copenhagen summit failed after developing countries including Bolivia, Cuba, Ecuador, Nicaragua, Venezuela and Sudan blocked a deal accepted by others. As Reuters marks, Venezuela has been the most critical this time.Yet even its delegation chief, Claudia Salerno, while accusing the conference chairs of being "hectic and stressed", said: "Relax, we are going to reach an agreement here.
The Guardian tells that developed countries – or most of them – came to the Paris climate change conference with a few clear priorities. They wanted to validate the emissions targets made by nearly all of the world’s governments; prove to developing countries that the flows of finance, mostly from the private sector, would be sufficient for the assistance they need; and ensure that the mechanisms for review, transparency, and accountability in meeting the emissions targets are sound.
The Guardian reports on François Hollande and Xi Jinping to propose that any climate change deal agreed in Paris must include future checks on whether countries are cutting emission.And, as states Reuters, 185 of 195 countries have already submitted national plans for combating climate change beyond 2020 and adapting to changes such as droughts, floods, desertification, heatwaves and rising sea levels.
Despite the seeming peace and harmony among the participants, many voices of those who count the lack of ambition to set effective standards are heard. The proposed measures cannot enable the target of limiting temperature rises to 2C to be met in future years, the Reuters says.
