UN climate chief to negotiators: sleep, focus

The 2015 conference will be held at Le Bourget, on the northern rim of Paris, from November 30 to December 11.

Rep. Ed Whitfield, R-Ky., said GOP lawmakers were forcing a vote on the climate rule to “send a message to the climate conference in Paris that in America, there’s serious disagreement with the policies of this president”. French President Francois Hollande is encouraging mayors of the world t…

This week Prime Minister Justin Trudeau told delegates at the Paris climate change summit that Canada “will take on a new leadership role internationally”. The Senate passed similar resolutions last month, while threatening to cut off funding for the U.S. portion of a Green Climate Fund under the United Nations emissions plan. “I have been doing this for many years, and this is just not right”, Bolivia’s Juan Hoffmaister, representing the G77 and China, told fellow negotiators at an evening session. Participants at the two events called for setting a price on carbon, phasing out fossil-fuel subsidies, more partnerships with governments, and the coupling of public and private finance to diffuse the risks of low-carbon investments. He said in all likelihood climate justice “will be the key of the climate agreement”. So they chose to try to limit global warming to only two degrees.

The broader issue is how much warming is too much.

Climate activists also want a legally binding set of targets, something that is unlikely to emerge from this conference. “It should be focused on lives”. Over the next 25 years, global demand for energy will increase by nearly a third, primarily in non-OECD countries like China and India, and we must ensure that this demand is met in as sustainable a manner as possible.

Despite the concerns, French Environment Minister Segolene Royal said negotiations were advancing. So far, worldwide negotiators trying to broker a deal say it’s a challenge they think they can handle. Since half of Americans agree with the Japanese, while most Europeans side with the Chinese, this issue is likely to prove controversial in Paris.

The Paris 2020 negotiations should have all aspects of the Kyoto Protocol and adhere to differentiation of the developed and the developing countries, the statement said.

He urged a collaborative approach to the greening of economies and more support for vulnerable poorer nations.

The U.S. special envoy for climate change says “a high-ambition coalition” is emerging in talks on a new climate pact in Paris.

“And yet despite all that, the main message I’ve got is, I actually think we’re going to solve this thing”. The developed countries are willing to help but reluctant to make firm commitments.

Then there’s the question of whether either goal is attainable.

Despite the fact that Kenya contributed a mere 0.1% of the total global emissions, it has pledged to voluntarily take national measures and actions for emission reduction and for enhancing adaptation to climate change. His numbers show that current pledges by nations would only limit warming to 3.5 degrees, down from the current trajectory of 4.5 degrees if nations continue producing emissions as they have been. The fires are emitting almost 16 million metric tons of carbon dioxide a day – more than the entire USA, whose economy is 20 times the size of Indonesia’s.

“We’re going to create a time buffer – it’s giving us more time, so we can go to zero emissions by 2050″. The fastest a country has ever cut carbon emissions was about 4 percent a year during the 1970s oil crisis, when France switched heavily to nuclear power. But were you aware that between 1948 and 2013, the average annual temperature in Canada has warmed by 1.6 °C (relative to the 1961-1990 average) – a higher rate of warming than in most other regions of the world?

“We don’t care whether it’s nuclear, solar or hydro”, Emanuel said.

“If you have a fragmented group it makes the management of the negotiations that much harder”, she said.