As a marathon United Nations climate summit in Madrid entered its final stretch island nations at risk of being erased from the map by rising seas have accused rich countries of losing sight of the urgency of the climate crisis.
The two-week negotiations are being watched for signs that governments are ready to honour the 2015 UN sponsored Paris Agreement to combat global warming by submitting more ambitious plans to cut greenhouse gas emissions next year.
Reuters Newsagency reports with the talks due to close later today, countries bearing the brunt of floods, droughts and hurricanes say that industrialised nations are refusing compromises needed to advance complex talks on financial aid and carbon trading.
Simon Stiell, environment minister of Grenada, part of the Alliance of Small Island States, a bloc of low-lying countries, said there was a disconnect between expressions of concern by many countries and their stances at the talks.
“Going into the final hours we will ask each country, where is the ambition?” Mr Steill told a news conference.
“The spirit and the objectives of the Paris Agreement are being eroded clause by clause, discussion by discussion.”
The Paris Agreement aims to avoid the most catastrophic scenarios foreseen by climate scientists by limiting the rise in average global temperatures caused by burning fossil fuels.
Reuters reports with huge political and economic interests at stake for the more than 190 countries committed to the Paris Agreement, fraught last-minute bargaining is a regular feature of annual negotiations aimed at strengthening the accord.
Nevertheless, delegates say the gap between the acute anxiety felt by a growing climate protest movement spurred on by increasingly erratic weather disasters, and the pace of the negotiations, has rarely loomed larger.
Hoping the summit will send a strong signal on climate action, Carolina Schmidt, Chile’s environment minister and president of the talks, had earlier warned governments there could be no justification for failing to compromise.
“There cannot be any excuses for not reaching agreement,” Ms Schmidt told delegates.
“I call on you to work together to be able to give a positive response tomorrow.”
The event was moved to the Spanish capital, Madrid, after protests in Chile.
Island states want to make sure any new rules on carbon trading do not contain loopholes that would allow countries such as Australia to count old credits from previous schemes, such as the expiring Kyoto Protocol, towards their current emissions targets.
Australia is seeking to use a large quantity of carry-over credits from the Kyoto Protocol to reach its modest target of a reduction of 26 to 28 per cent on 2005 emissions by 2030.
Reuters reports the island states also want a new fund to be set up to support countries that have incurred financial losses or physical damage as a result of climate change.
“We need clear and predictable finance that we can access to really compensate for the loss and damage that so many of our sister nations are feeling,” said Fijian Economy Minister Aiyaz Sayed Khaiyum.
The United States, which is in a withdrawal process from the Paris Agreement, and other high-emitting countries are wary of opening the door to compensation claims, diplomats said.
“You can see the two visions clearly: those who want to move faster and those who want to hide behind what has been insufficient so far, to avoid making progress,” Spanish Environment Minister Teresa Ribera told reporters.
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