Climate talks stumble as Paris summit looms
● After four days of haggling in Bonn, Friday is the final negotiating day before heads of state and government arrive in Paris for a conference tasked with sealing the deal
Climate negotiators divided on how to tackle global warming — and who should foot the bill — grappled Friday on the final day of crunch talks to finalise a draft agreement ahead of a crucial UN summit.
After four days of haggling in the German city of Bonn, Friday is the final negotiating day before heads of state and government arrive in Paris for a November 30December 11 conference tasked with sealing the deal.
A deep divide between rich and developing nations, and a botched attempt to streamline procedure, have left many diplomats frustrated.
Representing the G- 77 group of more than 130 developing nations, South Africa’s climate negotiator Nozipho Mxa kato - Diseko expressed the bloc’s “profound dissatisfaction” at a meeting on Friday morning.
“You cannot wish the Group away, we are not an inconvenience to be ignored,” she told the two facilitators of the 195- nation talks.
“G- 77 and China will not be sidelined.”
Analysts said there has been little progress at the key talks.
A draft text, after lastminute additions by many countries, “contains a lot of substance,” said Martin Kaiser, head of international climate politics for Greenpeace International. “But process- wise it’s a nightmare”.
Deletions and insertions into the draft have “delayed the process for several days if not the entire week,” he added.
The Paris pact would be the first to unite all the world’s nations in a single arena for reining in global warming and helping vulnerable nations cope with its impact. “The most difficult issues remain the same as before,” the EU’s top climate negotiator, Elina Bardram, said on Thursday, summing up the first four days.