ZCZC
BFF-27
CLIMATE-ENERGY-UN-COP24
Marathon UN climate talks near final straight
KATOWICE, Poland, Dec 15, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – Nations appeared Saturday to be
on the cusp of a deal to implement the Paris climate goals, after all-night
negotiations to hammer out a plan aimed at limiting global temperature rises.
“I think we have a landing zone. It is a compromise,” Gebru Jember Endalew,
chair of the Least Developed Countries negotiating group at the COP24 climate
summit, told AFP.
Delegates from nearly 200 nations have been locked in marathon talks in
Poland designed to produce a common rule book to put the pledges they made in
the landmark 2015 Paris climate accord into practice.
This means all countries, rich and poor alike, must agree to action that
will cap global temperature rises to “well below” two degrees Celsius (3.6
degrees Fahrenheit) and stave off the worst effects of planetary warming.
The talks have been beset by a host of disagreements, with different
configurations of developed and developing nations straddling both sides of
the divide.
Developing nations want more clarity from richer ones over how the future
climate fight will be funded and have been pushing for so-called “loss and
damage” measures.
This would see richer countries giving money now to help deal with the
effects of climate change many vulnerable states are already experiencing.
“It is a bit difficult to compromise when there are 190-plus countries,”
said Endalew. “I am still collecting feedback from the coordinators.”
The European Union’s climate commissioner Miguel Arias Canete on Saturday
morning tweeted a photo of him poring over the draft decision text from the
talks — which were meant to wrap up Friday — submitted by host Poland.
“A deal to make the #ParisAgreement operational is within reach,” he said.
BSS/AFP/FI/ 1542 hrs