Global talks on curbing climate change wrapped up yesterday after a planned Friday ending extended into the night, with delegates and observers reporting progress on several key details of the 2015 Paris accord.
The two-week negotiations focused on a range of issues including transparency, financial assistance for poor nations and how to keep raising nations’ targets for cutting carbon emissions.
“We are making good progress on the Paris agreement work program and we are on track to complete that work by the deadline,” Fijian Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama told diplomats hours before the meeting was due to conclude.
Photo: AP
Bainimarama, who presided over the talks, faced the challenging task of reconciling the often conflicting positions of rich and poor nations, especially when it comes to what each side needs to do to curb climate change.
Delegates agreed to launch a process next year to start reviewing existing plans to limit greenhouse gas emissions as part of a long-term effort to ratchet up ambition. It would be called the Talanoa Dialogue after a Fijian word for storytelling and sharing experiences.
Delegates also made progress in drafting a detailed rule book for the Paris agreement.
The rule book, covering aspects such as how to report and monitor each nation’s greenhouse gas emissions, is due to be ready by December next year.
By late Friday, two main issues remained unresolved: The question of how far in advance rich nations need to commit billions in funding to help developing nations, and a dispute over whether Turkey should have access to financial aid meant for poor countries.
Observers say the US delegation played a largely constructive role during the talks, despite the threat to pull out of the accord by US President Donald Trump’s administration.
While one group of US officials led by White House adviser George David Banks raised eyebrows by hosting a pro-coal event during the talks, a second group of seasoned US negotiators quietly got on with the painstaking job of refining the rule book, said Elliot Diringer, a veteran of such UN meetings.
“From all accounts they have been playing a constructive role in the room advancing largely the same positions as before,” said Diringer, who is also executive vice president of the Center for Climate and Energy Solutions.
Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research chief economist Ottmar Edenhofer said that while the talks might be considered a diplomatic success, little concrete progress has been made on tackling what he called the “coal trap.”
“We are being pressured by the mass of available coal: It’s very cheap on the market, but it’s very expensive for society, because of air pollution and climate change,” he said, adding that Japan, Turkey, Egypt and Indonesia plan to keep investing in coal-fired power plants.
Environmental groups voiced disappointment at German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s failure to announce a deadline to stop using coal, even as other nations such as Canada, Britain and France committed to a phase-out during the talks.
Leadership hopes are now being pinned on French President Emmanuel Macron, who is hosting a climate summit in Paris next month to mark the accord’s second anniversary.
Further low-level talks will take place over the next year to present leaders with final drafts for approval at the next meeting in Katowice, Poland, in December next year.
Additional reporting by Reuters
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