Climate change talks getting ‘brutal’ ahead of ministers’ arrival

The atmosphere at COP 21 is getting “fairly brutal” as political differences are laid bare, a leading environmental group involved in the global climate change summit in Paris has said.

At a media conference on Friday, Climate Action Network (CAN) raised concerns about a slowing of momentum in the talks, with some key measures being blocked and slow or no progress in other areas.

CAN members Sven Harmeling, of advocacy group CARE, and Kelly Dent of Oxfam said that while the talks were in a better place at the end of the first week than they were at the last summit in Copenhagen six years ago, there were still huge gaps and difference between key players.

“Negotiations are getting tough,” said Ms Dent. “Differences are laid bare

“Realities are setting in and it is getting very political. At the adaptation session there was a bust-up. Rich countries are putting forward no text options and adopting a maximalist position,” she said.

There were speaking soon after the latest draft of the proposed agreement or accord was published on Friday, as the technical talks of the first week, involving officials, come to an end.

On Saturday, environment ministers from the 196 parties begin arriving in Paris to hold high-level negotiations on the text.

Ms Dent said parties need to start compromising now and not in the last 24 hours when everybody was sleep deprived. She said that at least with difference out in the open, parties were aware of each other’s red lines issues.

Mr Harmeling disclosed that Arab countries led by Saudi Arabia had blocked any substantive recommendations from a the important 2013-2015 scientific group discussion. The purpose of this separate information was to provide the best possible scientific recommendations to ministers when reaching their decisions.

The clear conclusion from the discussions, said Mr Harming, was that limiting the average increase in global temperature to 2 degree Celsius about preindustrial levels was not sufficient.

“That is an outer defence line that we need to stay well below,” he said.

He said the clear substantive recommendation was for a 1.5 degrees Celsius long term goal.

“The Arab group led by Saudi Arabia blocked any substantive recommendation. It only wanted procedural recommendations.”

He said India and China did not agree either although their approaches were "less adamant and more diplomatic".

However, both Ms Dent and Mr Harmeling said the progress was more positive than at a similar stage of the Copenhagen summit six years ago. They pointed to the text now standing at 38 pages, as opposed to the 200-page text - and with different versions - at the end of the first week in Copenhagen.

“We have gone beyond that and are in a better position,” said Mr Harmeling, adding his concern about a minimalist agreement: “We must make sure we do not end at the lowest common denominator.”

Ms Dent said that since Copenhagen in 2009, the amount of funding on the table for poor countries to adapt to the impact of climate change had “flatlined”.

She said parties were nowhere near the $100 billion (€95 billion) which she said was needed for mitigation .The situation with adaptation funding was more worrying, and it was in danger of “becoming the poor sister.”

She said the Africa Group had proposed a brave compromise of €32 billion but that had not even been discussed. She said the current offer was between €5 billion and €8 billion.