Alister Doyle PlanetArk 22 Oct 15;
More funds to help poor nations cope with climate change will be the make-or-break issue when a Paris summit seeks a U.N. deal in December to slow global warming, the main group of developing nations said on Thursday.
Poor nations say they are far more vulnerable than the rich to powerful hurricanes, heat waves, droughts and rising sea levels and want clear promises that aid will rise from an existing goal of $100 billion a year by 2020.
For many developing nations "climate change poses an existential risk, it's a matter of life and death," Nozipho Mxakato-Diseko, South Africa's delegate who speaks for more than 130 developing nations, said at U.N. climate negotiations.
"Whether Paris succeeds or not will be dependent on what we have as part of the core agreement on finance," she told a news conference in Bonn during the Oct. 19-23 U.N. talks among almost 200 nations, the final preparatory session before Paris.
Developed nations have promised to raise climate funds to $100 billion a year, from a wide range of public and private sources, by 2020 to help emerging economies curb greenhouse gas emissions and adapt to impacts of climate change.
Mxakato-Diseko's Group of 77 and China, which has expanded to 134 members from 77 at its founding, wants guarantees that aid will be "scaled up from a floor of $100 billion from 2020".
The United States and other rich nations favor vaguer wording that stops short of promising a rise from 2020.
Other controversies in Paris are likely to be how to toughen national plans for curbs on greenhouse gas emissions beyond 2025 and 2030. Developed nations want guarantees that the poor will step up their actions to slow rising emissions.
Mxakato-Diseko said a report by the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development on Oct. 7, which said climate finance totaled $62 billion in 2014 had no legal status. She said poor nations had not been consulted.
And she said it was "simplistic" to say that barriers between rich and poor were breaking down over finance. China, for instance, last month pledged $3 billion in aid for developing nations.
"South-South cooperation is welcome, but putting it in the deal is something that is not acceptable" to developing nations, said Harjeet Singh of ActionAid. "The money to prepare for and deal with climate impacts must be at the center of the deal."
(Editing by Tom Heneghan)
Climate finance dispute slows UN talks as time runs short for Paris
* Poor want pledge of more than $100 billion funds from 2020
* Many concerned by slow pace of Bonn U.N. talks (Updates with end of meeting, Mexico)
Alister Doyle and Megan Rowling Reuters 23 Oct 15;
BONN, Germany, Oct 23 (Reuters) - Disputes over financing for poor nations hampered negotiations on Friday among almost 200 countries racing against the clock to seal an accord on combating global warming at a U.N. climate summit in Paris in December.
Some delegates said they feared a repeat of the 2009 summit in Copenhagen when governments last tried, and failed, to agree a deal, though many others said they remained confident of a breakthrough at the Nov. 30-Dec. 11 meeting in Paris.
"We didn't really enter in a negotiation. We can't repeat that next time" in Paris, French climate envoy Laurence Tubiana said after an often fractious week-long meeting in Bonn, Germany, at which many nations repeated well-worn views.
U.S. climate envoy Todd Stern predicted a deal would be reached in Paris despite scant progress in Bonn, the final meeting before Paris, on issues including climate finance.
Many nations want a deal, he said, but "you still have to hack our way through specific language and it gets pretty sensitive and pretty contentious."
Developing nations, which say their views are often ignored, said climate finance is the core issue, and all sides reported scant progress on the issue in Bonn.
"We are extremely worried about the pace," Amjad Abdulla, who speaks on behalf of the Alliance of Small Island States, which fears rising sea levels.
Poor nations want clear promises of rising contributions from industrialised nations beyond an existing goal of $100 billion by 2020, from public and private sources, to help them curb greenhouse gas emissions and adapt to changes such as floods and droughts.
Rich nations led by the United States and the European Union want to make vaguer pledges beyond 2020 and for Paris to include new donors such as China, now outside the $100 billion plan, which last month pledged $3 billion for developing nations.
The Christian Aid group said a Paris deal was close, "but climate finance is the elephant in the room".
"Developing countries need Paris to be a success. We have no other option. For developing countries, climate change is a matter of life and death," said Nozipho Mxakato-Diseko, South Africa's delegate, who speaks on behalf of more than 130 developing nations and China.
An updated draft text of an accord on Friday covers 55 pages and has 1,490 brackets, marking points of disagreement. That was up from 20 pages at the start of the talks and far longer than hoped.
Nations were also split over how far the Paris text should include a new mechanism for loss and damage, meant to help emerging nations cope with the impact of droughts, hurricanes and rising sea levels.
Mexico's delegate made an emotional link between Hurricane Patricia and the importance of a deal to limit warming.
"We are currently evacuating our coastal area and getting ready," Roberto Dondisch Glowinski said, his voice breaking with emotion. "I don't think I have to say more about the urgency of getting this deal done." (With extra reporting by Valerie Volcovici in Washington; Editing by Mark Heinrich)
