While President Obama is encouraged by the direction the Paris climate talks are taking, delegates have “sleepless nights” ahead before a deal is reached, the White House said Wednesday.
Press secretary Josh Earnest told reporters the draft released on Wednesday is proof of positive momentum that means a deal could get done by the end of the 21st Conference of the Parties on Friday. However, there’s a lot of work to do, he said.
“There are probably at least a couple more sleepless nights facing our negotiators before we have some good news to report,” Earnest said.
A draft agreement from COP21 was released Wednesday morning showing that negotiators are making progress.
The original draft agreement released last week was more than 50 pages, but it has shrunk to 29 pages. The number of brackets in the document, which symbolize language that is being negotiated on and proposed, has been reduced 75 percent to 364.
More than 190 countries are meeting in Paris to formalize an agreement on how they would regulate their carbon dioxide emissions, which most scientists blame for climate change. The main part of the deal includes what systems would be put in place to make sure countries are held accountable for making progress on those goals.
One of the most discussed portions of the draft agreement is exactly what the rise in global temperature should be limited to.
Before the talks started, it was generally agreed that the final deal would attempt to limit the rise in global temperatures to 2 degrees Celsius. That’s the rise that scientists point to as the level at which the worst effects of climate change could no longer be avoided.
However, in the last few days reports from Paris indicated momentum has gathered around language that would aim to limit global temperature rise to 2 degrees Celsius with an eye toward getting eventually to 1.5 degrees Celsius. Some reports indicate there is support for even firmer language indicating global temperature rise must be limited to 1.5 degrees Celsius.
It’s not clear how the countries would limit the increase in global temperature to 1.5 degrees Celsius. The plans proposed by most of the countries would limit global temperature rise to 2.7 degrees Celsius, according to United Nations scientists.
Reports from Paris show the U.S. is not in favor of limiting the increase in global temperature to 1.5 degrees Celsius but would like to get scientists’ thoughts on how that level could be attained.
Although the meeting is led by the French delegation, U.S. negotiators are having a major impact, Earnest said.
When it has announced environmental regulations during the past few months, the Obama administration has emphasized their symbolic value, stating they would position the U.S. as leaders in Paris. Earnest said that’s coming to fruition now.
“There’s no denying the leadership role the U.S. continues to play in these negotiations,” he said.
