Climate Talks Extended As Nations Haggle

France’s President Francois Hollande met religious figures lobbying against climate change on the side line of the COP21, United Nations Climate Change Conference in Le Bourget.

Xi said the two nations “must strengthen coordination with all parties and work together to ensure the Paris climate summit reaches an accord as scheduled”, according to state television.

The view was echoed by Adrian Ramsay, Chief Executive of the Centre for Alternative Technology (CAT) who added that, “if not included in the agreement we could see continued large growth in these emissions which will undermine efforts to reduce emissions elsewhere”.

Sleep-deprived and increasingly tense, diplomats and climate negotiators outside Paris struggled Thursday to narrow down a 29-page draft of an unprecedented deal to tackle climate change – but countries remained at odds on critical issues a day before the organizers’ deadline for an agreement.

This accord is the first time all countries are expected to pitch in – the previous emissions treaty, the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, only included rich countries.

The text now says the deal would aim to keep global temperature rises well below two degrees, and would pursue efforts to limit the temperature rise to 1.5 degrees – diplomatically bridging the two options.

Forming the backbone of the climate pact are emissions-reduction pledges, known as Intended Nationally Determined Contributions, which were submitted by participating countries ahead of the conference. Also, how much money the developed world will commit to help the developing countries pay for the changes that would be required.

“There is a clear understanding that INDCs are not enough”, said Cleetus.

The latest meeting of the 21st Conference of Parties (COP21), dubbed the “Indaba of Solutions”, lasted about five hours, ending at 5:40 a.m. on December 11, 2015, Friday.

That ambition, Cleetus said, needs to reflect mitigation as well as adaptation – both driven by “adequate finance”.

Negotiators are also still hotly debating the long-term goal.

Mr Nijar said it was not reasonable to expect countries like Malaysia to rapidly shift from fossil fuels – the biggest source of man-made greenhouse gas emissions – to cleaner sources of energy. Some climate experts prefer a more concrete, earlier date.

Global temperature rise should be held below 2 degrees Celsius, or 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit. For a review and resubmission process to be worth anything, we need the review part to happen sooner rather than later.

For instance, the treatment and climate responsibilities of developing countries compared to those of developed countries is still to to be agreed. Yet details remain unclear.

Gao Feng, special representative for climate change negotiations in China’s foreign ministry, said Beijing will be able to change its climate plans only in mid-2025, because China plans to limit its carbon emissions over the 10 years from 2020 to 2030, Financial Times reported.

Not everyone is hopeful.