French host says climate talks to extend 1 day

Options have also been removed from aspirations on vaguer long-term goals.

The draft still contained competing options on the key issue of transparency – making sure countries follow through on their emissions targets.

He instructed the ministers from 195 nations to make unprecedented compromises on the outstanding issues including extremely complex arguments primarily pitting rich countries against poor that have derailed previous UN efforts. He told parties he would continue closed-door negotiations through the day Friday and deliver a new text at mid-day Saturday, when he hoped to conclude the deal.

“In brief, it’s time to conclude”, said Laurent Fabius, French Foreign Minister.

Obama and Hollande spoke by phone on Thursday about the status of the talks. The second draft is expected to narrow the differences.

Photo courtesy of Le Centre d’Information sur l’Eau A group called Parisagreement.org has analyzed this task by counting the numbers of brackets – indicating disagreement.

One of the biggest potential deal-busters remaining is over money.

The Climate Action Plan has already outlined “notable progress” in its steps to limit carbon pollution from power plants. “Rich countries have a responsibility to ensure a fair global deal for everyone, not just themselves, and as we move into these final hours of negotiations poorer countries must not settle for anything less”.

Differentiation: whether developed nations should be asked to do a lot more than developing nations.

“We are nearly at the end of the road”, Fabius said. “Friday or maybe Saturday, I think we will get it”.

One of the big wins was the new wording around the temperature goal, said Alden Meyer, director of strategy and policy at the Union of Concerned Scientists of the United States.

The UN talks in Paris struggled after 11 days’ wrangling to agree on key pillars of a post-2020 climate pact, aimed at sparing future generations from worsening drought, flood, storms and rising seas.

The EU has found that it’s important to work closely with “ambitious partners”, Carole Dieschbourg, Luxembourg’s environment minister, whose government now represents the bloc alongside chief negotiator Miguel Arias Cañete, told POLITICO on the sidelines of a briefing.

Another battleground is what cap on global warming to enshrine in the accord, set to take effect in 2020. 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. A top European negotiator accused China of blocking proposals for countries to update their carbon pollution targets every five years.

China and India, heavily dependent on coal, are among those reluctant to set clear dates for giving up fossil fuels they see as vital to lift millions from poverty.

Representatives of over 190 countries are expected to reach an agreement to address global warming and cut carbon emissions, introducing a legally binding and universal strategy on the issue, which is due to replace the 1997 Kyoto Protocol.

Ban met Thursday at the climate conference with former U.S. Vice President Al Gore and non-governmental organizations seeking a robust deal.

Their priority must remain fighting poverty within their own borders, they say, not cutting their greenhouse-gas emissions. “No chance of staying below 1.5C without addressing them”.

Nearby, a pyramid of boxes and speakers broadcast voices recorded by activist group Avaaz.

The new text says nations will mobilize finance beyond a floor of $100 billion per year, to be mobilized by developed countries.

“We’re working on it”, Kerry said as he emerged from one meeting room with an entourage of security agents and State Department aides.

Those calls run counter to the interests of emerging countries, which worry more about being burdened with greater responsibilities to reduce their emissions, publicly reporting and verifying those reductions every few years, and providing financial aid to other developing countries. Questions around the political durability of the U.S. Climate Action Plan will color the negotiations.

The new deal stressed developed countries “should” take the lead on greenhouse gas cuts, but also encouraged all countries to adopt tougher economy-wide emission cuts “over time”, in light of circumstances.

The latest draft of the agreement was released earlier today.