Cop 21: Paris climate deal aims below 2°C

OREANDA-NEWS. December 11, 2015. The latest version of the climate deal being negotiated at UN talks in Paris calls for limiting the increase in global temperatures to "well below 2°C."

The latest draft of the agreement released today says that nations should "pursue efforts" to keep warming below a 1.5°C target, despite strong opposition from Arab League states, led by Saudi Arabia. The new long-term international climate deal is meant to be finalized in the next day or two and will succeed the Kyoto Protocol.

The UN climate talks had previously targeted not exceeding a 2°C rise, but in recent days, the 1.5°C target sought by nations most vulnerable to climate change had gained traction. It is now backed by well over 100 countries, with the EU, Canada and India all adding their support in recent days. Those climate-vulnerable states are mainly low-lying island nations at risk of being wiped out by rising seas.

Brazilian climate change ambassador Antonio Marcondes said a few hours before the release of the new draft that his country was ready to work with developing countries "to strengthen the temperature goal with a clear direction of travel towards 1.5°C."

The eagerly awaited new draft was released at 10pm local time in Paris, several hours later than originally planned. Negotiators had worked through the night yesterday in an effort to move closer to an agreement.

Last week, the US special envoy for climate change Todd Stern, also said the country was in active discussions to address island states' concerns and find a way to have 1.5°C referenced in the Paris agreement.

The previous draft, released on yesterday, included a more explicit provision for the global warming limit to be strengthened to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels, although simply retaining the current goal of 2°C is also still an option.

The previous draft contains an option to translate this temperature goal into a global greenhouse gas emissions reduction of either 40–70pc or 70–95pc below 2010 levels by 2050. But it also offers a far weaker and vague alternative goal of global decarbonization over the course of this century.