UN climate talks wrap up as US stands firm on fossil fuels
BONN: UN negotiations on implementing the Paris climate change agreement wrap up yesterday after two weeks of talks that were slowed down by the US defending the use of fossil fuels.
Envoys from nearly 200 countries, including delegates from Washington, gathered for the conference in Bonn to negotiate a ‘rulebook’, to be adopted next year, forenacting theglobal deal reached to cheers and champagne in 2015.
Delegates reported mixed progress in Germany, with the reemergence of divisions between rich and developing countries.
A key stumbling block was on finance for the world’s poorer nations to help them prepare for, and deal with, the fallout from climate change — including more frequent and severe superstorms, droughts and land- and crop- gobbling sea level rises.
Another obstacle was the insistence of developed nations — led by the US — that all countries share similar obligations under the Paris pact, while developing greenhouse gas polluters want a certain degree of leeway.
The Nov 6-17 conference is the first of the UN’s climate body since President Donald Trump announced in June that the US will withdraw from the agreement championed by his predecessor Barack Obama. The rules determine it can only leave in November 2020, and in the meantime, Washington continues to fill its seat at the climate talks.
“The stars are not well aligned since Trump’s exit” from the pact, Seyni Nafo, a negotiator for African nations, told AFP of the talks. — AFP