Pace of climate talks far too slow: UN chief

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said Monday that negotiations on climate change were moving too slowly and urged governments to quicken the pace ahead of the December conference on reaching a new global deal. French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius echoed Ban's call, saying a fresh effort was needed to avoid a repeat of the 2009 Copenhagen conference, which ended in failure.
"The pace of the UNFCCC negotiations is far too slow," Ban told a UN meeting on climate. "It's like snails, moving (at a) snail's pace." "The key political issues are still on the table," he said. World governments will try to forge a new global accord to address climate change at a UN climate conference in Paris in December, with both developed and developing countries committing to cutting greenhouse gas emissions.
Financing to help developing nations cut emissions and adapt to climate change remains a key issue. Ban said "credible climate financing is essential" for the Paris climate deal to be a success. He urged rich countries to follow up on their pledge to mobilise $100 billion per year by 2020 to support developing countries as they work to curb emissions and adapt to new clean-energy requirements.
"An agreement must also acknowledge the need for long term, very significant financing beyond 2020," said Ban. Fabius agreed that "rich countries must recognise that they must make an extra effort" to finance the battle against climate change. "We need political will so that we will not find ourselves in November in that situation that we were for Copenhagen," he warned.
China, Brazil, India and South Africa on Sunday ended a meeting with a call to developed countries to deliver on their promises of billions of dollars for climate financing. The meeting at the United Nations, where US actor-producer Robert Redford will speak, was aimed at building political momentum ahead of a string of meetings across the globe meant to prepare the Paris conference in December.
Ban called on countries to submit "as soon as possible" their national action plans for cutting emissions amid expectations that China, the world's number one emitter, is soon to unveil its long-awaited pledges. All countries are to present their targets to contribute to the deal that would limit global warming to two degrees Celsius over pre-industrial revolution levels, from 2020.