COP21 releases first draft of climate agreement

(Baonghean.vn) - On December 5, after 6 days of discussion, negotiators achieved initial success when they jointly approved a first draft of an agreement to combat climate change.

Representatives of 195 countries negotiate an agreement to combat climate change at Bourget, Paris. Photo: Le Monde

After a week of difficult negotiations, Ministers representing 195 countries participating in the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change have agreed on a document that will serve as the basis for adopting a final agreement on global warming, expected to be signed on December 11 in Paris. Experts assess that this is the initial success of the COP21 Conference taking place in Bourget, Paris.

The 48-page draft document is divided into two parts, the second part is the most important part, starting from page 43, called “compromise proposal”. These five pages reflect the discussions of the country representatives and gather many of their proposals for each main topic such as mitigation, adaptation, finance, etc.

However, the draft text still leaves open many options such as the long-term goal of the agreement is to keep the temperature from rising more than 1.5 or 2˚C… In addition, scientists say there are irreversible impacts of climate change such as increased droughts, floods, reduced agricultural production, coastal erosion…

French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius holds the first draft of the climate agreement adopted by 195 member states on December 5. Photo: Le Monde

And on December 7, Ministers of 195 member countries will have to continue negotiations as the draft text has not been completed and major political issues have not been resolved.

Non-governmental organizations assess and decide the success or failure of the Paris climate agreement at this time, which is encapsulated in three key issues: first, the cost of environmental solidarity; second, the challenges of protecting the most vulnerable populations from the impacts of global warming; and finally, reviewing the commitments of countries before 2020 - the deadline for the agreement to take effect if the COP21 conference is successful.

Chu Thanh

(According to Le Monde, Le Parisien)