Nations at U.N. climate talks back emissions rules

KATOWICE, Poland — After two weeks of bruising negotiations, officials from almost 200 countries agreed Saturday on universal, transparent rules that will govern efforts to cut emissions and curb global warming. Reaching agreement on two other issues, including how countries trade and account for certain pollution, was delayed a year to help bridge a chasm of opinions on the best solutions.

The deal agreed upon at the U.N. climate talks enables countries to act on the principles in the 2015 Paris climate accord.

But to the frustration of environmental activists, negotiators delayed decisions on two key issues in an effort to get a deal on them.

“Through this package, you have made a thousand little steps forward together,” said Michal Kurtyka, a Polish official chairing the talks.

He said while each individual country would likely find some parts it didn’t like, efforts had been made to balance the interests of all parties.

The talks in Poland took place against a backdrop of growing concern that global warming is proceeding faster than governments are responding to it.

A recent report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, or IPCC, concluded that while it’s possible to cap global warming at 2.7 degrees Fahrenheit by the end of the century compared to pre-industrial times, this would require a dramatic overhaul, including a shift from fossil fuels.

Alarmed by efforts to include this in the final text of the meeting, oil-exporting nations the U.S., Russia, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait blocked an endorsement of the IPCC report midway through this month’s talks.

The final text at the U.N. talks omits a previous reference to specific reductions in greenhouse gas emissions by 2030, and merely welcomes the “timely completion” of the IPCC report, not its conclusions.