Climate-saving talks crawl as deadline looms

Negotiators charged with saving humanity from a climate catastrophe yesterday unveiled a new draft deal riddled with conflicting proposals after three days of talks in Paris, sparking deep concern among activists, reports AFP from Le Bourget.
The UN talks being attended by representatives of 195 nations north of Paris aim to slash greenhouse-gas emissions which trap the Sun’s heat, warming Earth’s surface and oceans and disrupting its delicate climate system.
Taking effect from 2020, the pact would target emissions from fossil fuels such as coal, oil and gas—the backbone of the world’s energy supply today—and channel hundreds of billions of dollars in climate aid to vulnerable countries.
More than 150 world leaders including President Barack Obama launched the talks Monday, seeking to build momentum for the tough negotiations ahead with lofty rhetoric about the urgency of the task.
But after three days of grinding discussions over a hugely complex 54-page draft pact, bureaucrats unveiled a document just four pages shorter and with vast stretches of text yet to be agreed.
Ministers from around the globe will descend on Paris Monday to try to transform the draft prepared by diplomats into a universal climate accord to avert planetary overheating. The conference is scheduled to conclude on December 11.
“At this rate, when ministers arrive next week they will wonder what progress has been made since world leaders took to the podium in Paris,” said Greenpeace’s head of international climate politics Martin Kaiser.
At the core of the talks is the goal of limiting average warming to a maximum of two degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) over pre-Industrial Revolution levels.
The World Wide Fund for Nature’s head of delegation, Tasneem Essop, said the draft was “mostly unchanged” from when negotiators landed in Paris.

Climate-saving talks crawl as deadline looms

Negotiators charged with saving humanity from a climate catastrophe yesterday unveiled a new draft deal riddled with conflicting proposals after three days of talks in Paris, sparking deep concern among activists, reports AFP from Le Bourget. The UN talks being attended by representatives of 195 nations north of Paris aim to slash greenhouse-gas emissions which trap the Suns heat, warming Earths surface and oceans and disrupting its delicate climate system. Taking effect from 2020, the pact would target emissions from fossil fuels such as coal, oil and gasthe backbone of the worlds energy supply todayand channel hundreds of billions of dollars in climate aid to vulnerable countries. More than 150 world leaders including President Barack Obama launched the talks Monday, seeking to build momentum for the tough negotiations ahead with lofty rhetoric about the urgency of the task. But after three days of grinding discussions over a hugely complex 54-page draft pact, bureaucrats unveiled a document just four pages shorter and with vast stretches of text yet to be agreed. Ministers from around the globe will descend on Paris Monday to try to transform the draft prepared by diplomats into a universal climate accord to avert planetary overheating. The conference is scheduled to conclude on December 11. At this rate, when ministers arrive next week they will wonder what progress has been made since world leaders took to the podium in Paris, said Greenpeaces head of international climate politics Martin Kaiser. At the core of the talks is the goal of limiting average warming to a maximum of two degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) over pre-Industrial Revolution levels. The World Wide Fund for Natures head of delegation, Tasneem Essop, said the draft was mostly unchanged from when negotiators landed in Paris.