Extract from ABC News
Updated
French foreign minister Laurent Fabius, host of the
195-nation climate-saving talks in Paris, says he will submit a historic
deal to ministers later today and is certain it will be approved.
International
climate change talks have been extended beyond the official deadline in
an effort to secure a deal to curb global warming."Following the consultations I will have, I will be in a position (on Saturday) morning at 9:00am (7:00pm Saturday AEDT) to present to all parties a text, which, I am sure, will be approved and will be a big step forward for humanity as a whole," Mr Fabius said.
"We are almost at the end of the road and I am optimistic."
Negotiators have spent two weeks trying to get agreement on a worldwide plan to tackle climate change.
Mr Fabius said the talks had been extended into another weekend as it was taking longer than expected to overcome disputes.
He insisted the atmosphere was positive and significant progress had been made on Friday on some key issues.
China, the world's biggest polluter of greenhouse gases, said it was "quite confident" that a historic universal accord would be struck on Saturday.
"We are quite confident, I think with joint efforts by tomorrow we shall have a Paris agreement," senior envoy Liu Zhenmin said.
This morning Foreign Minister Julie Bishop, who is leading the Australian delegation at the talks, tweeted that she was "still pushing for (an) ambitious global agreement chairing (the) Umbrella Group — still a way to go".
The Umbrella Group is a grouping of non-European developed countries including Australia, Canada, Japan, the US and Russia.
Photo:
Children hold a sign saying 'Adieu fossil fuels' outside the conference in Paris. (ABC News: Lisa Millar)
Climate financing continues to be a sticking point
One of the biggest hurdles left to clear is an agreement on funding — who will provide funding to help the countries most affected by climate change, and how much they will contribute.Rich countries promised six years ago in Copenhagen to muster $US100 billion a year from 2020 to help developing nations make the energy shift and cope with the impact of global warming.
But how the pledged funds will be raised remains unclear and developing countries are determined to secure a commitment for increasing amounts of money after 2020.
The latest text refers to the $100 billion as a floor, potentially triggering a last-minute backlash from the United States and other developed nations fearful of being forced to sign a blank cheque.
Another remaining flashpoint issue is how to compensate developing nations that will be worst hit by climate change but are least to blame for it.
The developing nations are demanding "loss and damage" provisions, which Washington is particularly wary of as it fears they could make US companies vulnerable to legal challenges for compensation.
As he released the draft of the pact, Mr Fabius said a deal was "extremely close" but appealed for compromise from all sides.
Nations most vulnerable to climate change had lobbied hard to limit warming to no more than 1.5 degrees Celsius compared with pre-Industrial Revolution levels.
However several big polluters, such as China and India as well as oil producing-giant Saudi Arabia, prefer a ceiling of 2C, which would allow them to burn fossil fuels for longer.
The latest draft offers a compromise that states the purpose of the agreement is to hold temperatures to well below 2C, but aim for 1.5C.
"With this, I would be able to go home and tell my people that our chance for survival is not lost," said Tony de Brum, foreign minister of the Marshall Islands, one of the archipelagic nations that could be wiped out by rising sea levels.
ABC/wires
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