Negotiators in the Paris climate talks are arguing over financing, how much to limit global warming and who will bear the most responsibility to fight climate change.
The number of brackets in the latest draft agreement, representing portions of the text that are up for debate, dropped from 364 on Wednesday to just 50 on Thursday. The entire text remains bracketed, meaning the whole document is up for debate, but the reduction in brackets shows negotiators found many areas of compromise, with one day to go before the scheduled end of the talks.
French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius, the president of the 21st Conference of the Parties, said the main areas of debate revolve around funding for poor countries, the amount of responsibility poor countries will have to bear in fighting climate change as opposed to richer nations, and exactly what level the rise in global warming should be limited to.
This week, the idea of the text stating the goal for limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius gained momentum. However, the latest version of the deal says the goal of the agreement will be to hold the increase in global temperature “well below” 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels.
The draft also says countries would agree to try and limit temperature increase to 1.5 degrees Celsius, “recognizing that this would significantly reduce risks and impacts of climate change.”
Considering scientists believe global temperatures have already risen 1 degree Celsius above pre-industrial levels, the 1.5 degree Celsius level was seen as radically ambitious. The scaled-back language was the preference of the U.S. delegation.
It’s hard to see how the countries could get to a 1.5 degrees Celsius limit in global temperature rise in current conditions. Under the plans submitted by most of the 196 countries attending the talks, global temperatures would still rise 2.7 degrees Celsius, according to U.N. scientists.
One of the areas of disagreement is over a clause urging developed countries to contribute at least $100 billion to a green fund for developing countries by 2020 to fight the effects of climate change. The language in the clause, stating the agreement “strongly urges” rich countries to pay poorer countries, doesn’t appear to be legally binding in the United States.
Another point of disagreement is whether countries that sign the deal can voluntarily participate. President Obama and Secretary of State John Kerry have pushed for that language to escape ratification in the U.S. Senate, where Republicans would almost certainly shoot it down.
However, the agreement does say each country “shall” determine what their greenhouse gas emissions cuts will be and take steps to achieve those goals. The word “shall” means that clause would be legally binding under international law.
Other parts of the draft that have been agreed upon include meeting in 2019 to assess progress on emissions commitments. The parties would meet again in 2023 and then every five years afterward.
The agreement would have countries agree to peak their greenhouse gas emissions as soon as possible and then move toward being “greenhouse gas neutral.” Most climate scientists blame greenhouse gases created from burning fossil fuels for driving manmade climate change.
Speaking in Paris Thursday, Kerry said the talks are getting “critical.”
“We’re working away,” Kerry told reporters. “Today’s obviously getting down to the critical stage and we had a very constructive meeting. We feel very good about the conversation we just had. We need to work on language, and that’s what most of today and tonight will be.”
Obama and French President Francois Hollande spoke on the phone Thursday about the conference. The White House said the two leaders spoke about the conference’s progress and reaffirmed their commitment to “work together to reach an ambitious and durable climate agreement.”
Fabius told the Paris conference a final draft is expected to be released Friday.
