Hosts France issued a 31-page draft text of a deal to combat climate change on Saturday, hoping to secure adoption within hours from 195 nations and mark a turning point for the global economy away from fossil fuels.
Officials have been meeting the French capital since Nov. 29, seeking to craft the strongest deal yet to bind both rich and poor nations to curb greenhouse gas emissions.
Following are key points from the text:
unfccc.int/resource/docs/2015/cop21/eng/l09.pdf
• Holding the increase in the global average temperature to well below 2 degrees Celsius above preindustrial levels and to pursue efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1.5 °C above preindustrial levels, recognizing that this would significantly reduce the risks and impacts of climate change.
• Parties aim to reach global peaking of greenhouse gas emissions as soon as possible, recognizing that peaking will take longer for developing country Parties, and to undertake rapid reductions thereafter in accordance with best available science, so as to achieve a balance between anthropogenic emissions by sources and removals by sinks of greenhouse gases in the second half of this century, on the basis of equity, and in the context of sustainable development and efforts to eradicate poverty.
• Prior to 2025 the Conference of the Parties serving as the meeting of the Parties to the Paris Agreement shall set a new collective quantified goal from a floor of 100 billion dollars per year, taking into account the needs and priorities of developing countries.
