US pushes developing countries to reduce objections on climate deal

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PIURA: The United States has pushed the developing countries to reduce objections as a 12-day deadline in Lima before the UN meeting.
The talks, meant to pave the way to a landmark pact in Paris next year, are scheduled to conclude on Friday, but delegates reported deadlock and a souring mood as the final day neared. In a speech touching on one of the thorniest issues, US Secretary of State John Kerry called on developing nations to understand they too had to curb carbon emissions even if they felt it was unfair.
“I know the discussions can be tense and decisions are difficult and I know how angry some people are about the predicament they’ve been put in by big nations that have benefited from industrialization for a long period of time,” Kerry said. But, “we have to remember that today more than half of global emissions – more than half – are coming from developing nations. So it is imperative that they act too.”
If the negotiations fail, “future generations will judge our effort not just as a policy failure but as a massive collective moral failure of historic consequence,” he warned. The envisioned pact would bring all the world’s nations into a single forum for cutting heat-trapping greenhouse gases blamed for damaging Earth’s climate systems.
To be sealed in December 2015 and enter into force by 2020, it must ensure global warming does not exceed two degrees Celsius over pre-industrial levels. The Lima round began on Dec 1 on a hopeful note, following promises by China, the United States and the European Union – the world’s three biggest carbon polluters – to tackle their emissions.
Money, too, began to flow into the Green Climate Fund, the main vehicle for channeling at least US$100 billion (80 billion euros) in annual aid, promised by rich countries to climate-vulnerable nations by 2020. But on Thursday the negotiations ground on with few signs of genuine horse-trading.
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon urged ministers to begin “real, serious negotiations. We have been talking over the last two decades,” said Ban. “We don’t have a moment to lose.”