New draft climate deal emerges as Paris talks near end

After talks wrapped up at almost 6 a.m. (0500 GMT) Friday, French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said he is aiming for a final draft Saturday.

Negotiators and ministers from over 190 countries gathered in Paris on 30 November to open the Conference of Parties (CoP) under the United Nations Framework Convention for Climate Change (UNFCCC) for a new climate deal.

This was seen as a significant moment after discussions that began in 2011 about a new global agreement that would stake out a long-term strategy for dealing with climate change.

The latest version draft document, delivered after consultations throughout Thursday, was 27 pages – considerably shorter than previous versions. Scientific analyses show those targets won’t be enough to limit global warming to 2 degrees Celsius compared with pre-industrial times, the overarching goal of the climate talks.

India also termed as “disappointing” the issue of finance, saying while developed countries failed to fulfil their obligations, they are also trying to “shift” their responsibility to developing nations.

The envisioned agreement aims to hold global average temperature rises to well below 2 C over preindustrial levels. “There is no indication of scaling up of finance nor a clear roadmap”, he said during a negotiating session.

“That’s encouraging because it signals a stronger intention to cut emissions – although countries still need to outline how they’ll achieve these goals”, he added.

But predictably, one of the most hard issues to resolve is how to address what are called “loss and damages” provisions: establishing payments for the harm from climate change that is already inevitable and is sure to worsen.

But Mr Fabius said “things are moving in the right direction”.

“We are into the final lap which separates us from a universal, legally binding, ambitious, fair and lasting agreement which the world is waiting for”, he told negotiators.

Countries must insist that the Paris deal also tackles the two elephants in the room: “planes” and ships’ emissions’. “It’s time to come to an agreement”, said Fabius after releasing the draft.

Negotiators from 195 countries are mainly divided over how far to go in curbing global temperature rises.

Sources in the Indian government said that although many issues raised by the country have found a place, there are still some issues that needed to be worked out.

The host country, France in this case, plays a key role in determining the structure of any agreement in climate negotiations.

He said there were many convergence points which were “emerging” between India and the US.

The text also agrees to reach a peak for greenhouse gas emissions “as soon as possible” and to make “rapid reductions” after. The meeting came ahead of the release of the second draft negotiating text which is expected to reach convergence on major issues even as a lot of differences still remain.

European Climate and Energy Commissioner Miguel Arias Canete said national plans for action should be reviewed every five years, “so that when the treaty enters into force in 2021, we are able to raise the level of ambition”.

“It’s not even being being asked for by the developing countries so why raise the question when it’s not even been pushed for or asked for by the vulnerable countries who want loss and damage (compensation)?” India, which has led demands for richer countries to take a bigger share of the load, offered conditional support for a 1.5C target if those developed nations accepted bigger emissions cuts.