Paris climate summit: A world of differences in the way of global pact
Financing is the big sticking point as state leaders gather in the French capital to throw their political weight behind efforts to reach a deal
Su Wei, director general of climate change at the National Development and Reform Commission, said “intensive negotiations” were needed to bridge the gulf and find “basic common ground”.
President Xi Jinping and his US counterpart Barack Obama, along with other state leaders, arrived in the French capital yesterday amid tightened security in the aftermath of terror attacks that killed 130 people.
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The leaders are expected to lend political impetus as the United Nations climate change summit starts today, aiming to avoid the disarray that ended the Copenhagen summit in 2009.
Representatives from 195 countries and the European Union must find a way to carve an agreement out of a 51-page draft by the end of the two-week conference, Su said. The long-term goal is to limit global temperature rises to 2 degrees Celsius, while ensuring food security and economic development for poor nations.
Su said China would stick to the “principle of common but differentiated responsibilities”, but the challenge of climate change “cannot be solved solely by developed countries”.
Developed countries were responsible for emissions during their phase of industrialisation but “we should not only highlight the differentiated part”, he said. “It’s our common challenge.”
The prospect of a deal in Paris was more likely after the leaders of the 53 Commonwealth countries signed an agreement in Malta, Maltese Prime Minister Joseph Muscat said yesterday.
Despite the urgency, countries are still at odds on issues that have long hindered progress on a global deal.
The biggest sticking point is climate financing. While developing countries want greater clarity on how developed nations will provide US$100 billion in climate funding by 2020 and a plan to scale up after 2020, industrialised nations want the wording to remain vague.
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In the lead-up to Paris, more than 170 countries responsible for over 90 per cent of the world’s greenhouse gases announced plans for specific cuts but the pledges are still short of what is needed to meet the 2 degree cap.
Meanwhile, about 2,800 police and soldiers will secure the conference site, and 6,300 others will be deployed in Paris. Nearly 1,000 people thought to pose security risks have been denied entry to France. French authorities cancelled two climate protests but masses of people joined rallies from Australia to Mexico City, demanding leaders craft a pact to avert catastrophe.
Additional reporting by Kyodo and Agence France-Presse
