Climate summit: 'this is doable'. Amid protests in Paris, UN's Ban Ki-Moon says he is optimistic there will be a strong deal at the Climate summit as deadline looms.
Work on an historic climate deal that for the first time would require all countries to play a role in curbing greenhouse gas emissions will continue through the weekend after organisers conceded the summit would not meet its Friday night deadline.
Climate change negotiators from nearly 200 countries had worked through the night Australian time as they tried to secure an agreement. Some had not slept for 48 hours.
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| French Foreign Affairs Minister Laurent Fabius arrives to talk to the media. The French have released a draft text of a climate deal. |
The French hosts of the Paris climate change summit had launched an ambitious move on Thursday to accelerate the talks towards a final agreement, releasing a new draft version of a global deal that aimed to force through resolutions to major disputes.
Speaking before heading into all night meetings, Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop said the negotiations remained in a delicate position, and there was still a lot of work to do.
"I think that the text is about 80 per cent there," Ms Bishop said.
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| Participants at the climate conference. Photo: AP |
"There are still a number of options that could go either way. But this is more positive than some were expecting."
The latest draft text is relatively free of brackets, which are used to reflect areas of dispute. The previous version of the agreement had 361. It is now down to 50, with 13 options remaining.
French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said it was time for countries to show the "necessary responsibility" to find common ground.. "I think, dear friends, that we will make it," he said.
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| US Secretary of State John Kerry (right), with White House senior advisor Brian Deese (left) and US Special Envoy for Climate Change Todd Stern (centre). |
The biggest outstanding issues are how emissions are monitored and tracked in different countries, funding for poorer nations to adapt and cut greenhouse gas pollution, and whether the rich will pay the vulnerable to help them recover from irreparable damage caused by climate change.
But the text does propose compromises on how often emissions targets should be reviewed and the long-term goals of the agreement.
It includes a reference to keeping global warming below 1.5 degrees, which had been pushed hard by the countries most affected by climate change – particularly, low-lying island states. It sits in the text alongside the more commonly recognised goal of below two degrees.
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| A poster demanding that warming be limited to 1.5 degrees, held up during a protest by activists at the Paris climate talks. Photo: AP |
Marshall Islands Foreign Minister Tony de Brum welcomed the inclusion of the 1.5 degrees target. "With this, I would be able to go home and tell my people that our chance for survival is not lost," he said.
Ms Bishop on Thursday night chaired a meeting of a group of non-European industrialised nations called the Umbrella Group, including the US, Canada and Japan. She said the bloc wanted to secure an agreement that was ambitious, ensured proper transparency and five-yearly reviews of emissions targets.
She said there were still outstanding issues, in particular climate funding for poorer nations and how the difference between developed and developing countries was reflected in the agreement.
Climate Institute deputy chief executive Erwin Jackson said the world was on the cusp of getting the best possible outcome from Paris. He said the biggest political issues still need to be resolved including transparency, finance and loss and damage.
"Things could still go awry," Mr Jackson said.
From Wednesday afternoon, ministers and negotiators had worked through night and day hunting for compromise.
Less formal meetings were carried out in a "indaba" format – a Zulu-style meeting where all present get a turn to speak.
Mr Fabius described the meetings as the "indaba of solutions".
The summit was due to close at 6pm on Friday in Paris, but news agency Agence France-Presse quoted an official saying a final draft of the text would not be released until Saturday local time.
Canadian Environment Minister Catherine McKenna tweeted after attending all-night meetings: "It's a wrap. Negotiations continue tomorrow (aka today). Final text expected Saturday morning."
An initial draft of the text was generally considered to be less ambitious than hoped, but the second version released late on Thursday night had been strengthened. Some countries that had signalled wariness about stronger goals, including India, Saudi Arabia and Malaysia, were expected to object to parts of it.
A senior African delegate described the second draft as "a pretty good attempt". Another African delegate said there key things still to be sorted out, but "there are a lot of elements which are great".
Nathaniel Keohane, a campaigner with the US Environmental Defence Fund, said there had been "striking progress" towards a consensus in the past week, particularly on establishing the long-term goal. He said key divisions remained on the relative roles of developed and developing nations.
The issue of how to set-up a review system that could lead to countries making stronger commitments over time also appeared to have been resolved, with an initial stocktake of how global emissions are tracking in 2019, leading to the first reviews of targets in 2020. Parties would review their targets every five years.
"It's a bet that when we come around in 2019, technology will have changed enough that you'll have pressure for more ambition," Me Keohane said.
The Turnbull government's pledge is for a 26-28 per cent reduction in Australia's greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 compared with 2005 levels. The government plans to review the target in 2017.
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