Delegate approve draft text — UN Climate Conference

“I think now the American people are waking up to the fact that nothing has happened and then the consequences are going to fall on them – the people – and not the politicians”.

Former U.S. Vice President Al Gore has likened the climate talks to a great moral cause with a simple “right” or “wrong” answer – just like the abolition of slavery or apartheid, the right of women to vote and civil rights for all. We are not at the end of the route.

Halfway through the talks, the prospects of a deal being struck seem higher than in Copenhagen in 2009, when leaders failed to reach a global agreement to tackle climate change.

He told climate delegations “with your help, here come the trees”. He says he’s hoping to help make Haiti “a model of reforestation” through a 10-year plan. He says, in OR, the shellfish industry is suffering, forest fires are prevalent and the Cascade Mountains are seeing a smaller snowpack.

Some Hollywood stars turned up to direct more attention to the problem of global warming.

Scientists have warned that as Earth warms, the planet will be increasingly hostile to human life, with rising sea levels, devastating storms and severe droughts.

Ten Senate Democrats went to Paris on Friday in a show of support for the talks. Cory Brooker (D-N.J.), Chris Coons (D-Del.), Al Franken (D-Minn.), Ed Markey (D-Mass.), Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), Brian Chatz (D-Hawaii), Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), Tom Udall (D-N.M.), and Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.).

Their aim is to reach an worldwide deal on greenhouse gas emissions and climate change. Many Congressional Republicans doubt global warming is real, or fear that stringent controls of carbon emissions could kill jobs. Orr noted that the meeting is taking place in the United States” capital as all the partners joining the Secretary-General at the 2016 summit agreed that Washington, D.C.is the “best stop’ as it is home to a number of important global institutions and financing vehicles. “There’s no doubt about that”.

“We have to further discuss… try to find some proper solution”, he said.

The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) posted on its website a copy of the draft agreement, which officials have been working on intensively for some time.

Chief US negotiator Todd Stern said attempts to draw up a draft deal acceptable to all sides were advancing, however.

The draft is full of brackets and multiple options, highlighting how a host of sticking points remain to be worked out.

Many disagreements remain, nearly all related to defining the obligations and expectations of rich and poor countries, as well as those who don’t fit neatly into either category. But such deadlines are frequently ignored with tired, sleep-deprived negotiators often slogging through the night to get a final accord.

Many countries said the draft, the result of four years of work since the process was launched in Durban in 2011, left too many issues unresolved.

Meanwhile, several island nations along with many least-developed countries and African nations – more than 100 in all – are urging the worldwide community to move beyond previous commitments of keeping temperatures below a 2-degree Celsius rise over preindustrial levels.