UN CLIMATE TALKS

Merkel, Macron to front diplomatic push

BONN: The leaders of France and Germany will lead a diplomatic charge Wednesday to reinvigorate UN climate talks clouded by Washington's rejection of a planet rescue plan backed by the rest of the world, reports AFP.

Despite announcing it will withdraw from the Paris Agreement, the United States has a delegation in Bonn where rules for executing the pact on winding down Earth-warming greenhouse gas emissions from burning coal, oil and gas are being drawn up.

The US presence is not universally appreciated, especially after White House officials hosted a sideline event Monday, defending continued fossil fuel use.

"A lot of negotiators are not happy with the way the US has been behaving in some of these negotiations," Alden Meyer of the Union of Concerned Scientists, a veteran observer of the climate process, told AFP.

"Things like this fossil fuel initiative... are not making things easier." The United States, which championed the Paris Agreement under former president Barack Obama, ratified it just two months before Donald Trump -- who has described climate change as a "hoax" -- was voted into office.

In June, the new president announced America would pull out of the pact. This week, Syria became the 196th country to formally adopt the hard-fought agreement, leaving the United States as the only nation in the UN climate convention to reject it.

For the past nine days, bureaucrats have been haggling over a Paris Agreement "rulebook", which will specify how countries must calculate and report their contribution to global emissions cuts. From Wednesday, it is the turn of energy and environment ministers to unlock issues above the pay grade of rank-and-file negotiators, with finance a key sticking point to be resolved by Friday's close of the conference.

Along with UN chief Antonio Guterres, French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel will seek to inject political impetus into the talks when they kick off the "high-level segment" -- a day-and-a-half of back-to-back speeches.

 

UN CLIMATE TALKS

Merkel, Macron to front diplomatic push

BONN: The leaders of France and Germany will lead a diplomatic charge Wednesday to reinvigorate UN climate talks clouded by Washingtons rejection of a planet rescue plan backed by the rest of the world, reports AFP. Despite announcing it will withdraw from the Paris Agreement, the United States has a delegation in Bonn where rules for executing the pact on winding down Earth-warming greenhouse gas emissions from burning coal, oil and gas are being drawn up. The US presence is not universally appreciated, especially after White House officials hosted a sideline event Monday, defending continued fossil fuel use. A lot of negotiators are not happy with the way the US has been behaving in some of these negotiations, Alden Meyer of the Union of Concerned Scientists, a veteran observer of the climate process, told AFP. Things like this fossil fuel initiative... are not making things easier. The United States, which championed the Paris Agreement under former president Barack Obama, ratified it just two months before Donald Trump -- who has described climate change as a hoax -- was voted into office. In June, the new president announced America would pull out of the pact. This week, Syria became the 196th country to formally adopt the hard-fought agreement, leaving the United States as the only nation in the UN climate convention to reject it. For the past nine days, bureaucrats have been haggling over a Paris Agreement rulebook, which will specify how countries must calculate and report their contribution to global emissions cuts. From Wednesday, it is the turn of energy and environment ministers to unlock issues above the pay grade of rank-and-file negotiators, with finance a key sticking point to be resolved by Fridays close of the conference. Along with UN chief Antonio Guterres, French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel will seek to inject political impetus into the talks when they kick off the high-level segment -- a day-and-a-half of back-to-back speeches.