Parties optimistic on climate change deal in Paris

PARIS

Reaching an international agreement on climate change is within reach, French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said Tuesday, weeks ahead of the UN climate summit in Paris.

Speaking after a pre-summit meeting of ministers, Fabius said progress had been made over two days but further work needed to be done to smooth the way for the Nov. 30 to Dec. 11 Paris conference.

He said ministers had taken “an important step forward” but added the “task that remains is considerable”.

The World Bank’s claim earlier this week that climate change could push more than 100 million people into poverty demonstrated the need for a “complete commitment to succeed” at the summit, the minister added.

Fabius is to preside over the summit that will see more than 100 world leaders gather to work out a deal to tackle global warming. The UN is seeking to limit global warming to 2C (3.6F) above pre-Industrial Revolution levels.

An agreement prepared by diplomats is due to be signed at the end of the Conference of Parties (COP), which will include U.S. President Barack Obama, Chinese President Xi Jinping, Prime Minister Narendra Modi of India and Russia’s President Vladimir Putin.

The pre-COP meeting was held to determine possible compromises on contentious issues and avoid the failure of the 2009 Copenhagen summit that ended without any binding resolution.

Progress was made on five points including safeguarding against backsliding by signatories, continuously improving climate pledges towards a long-term target and collecting $100 billion to help achieve the target.

UN climate change chief Christiana Figueres described the meeting as “one of the most productive pre-COP talks”. She said the main message of the gathering was that a “deal is possible, it is necessary and it is urgent.”

Peruvian Environment Minister Manuel Pulgar-Vidal said the meeting was to build trust and said he was confident of success in December.