World leaders gather for high-level meetings on climate deal

World Today

Top government ministers from around the world are now taking center stage in Paris. They are tasked with creating a climate deal from the draft negotiating text signed off by delegates here last week.

CCTV’s Kate Parkinson reports.

U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon warned that time is running out

“The clock is ticking towards climate catastrophe. The world is expecting more from you than half-measures and incremental approaches. It is calling for a transformative agreement, an agreement that opens the way for peace, stability and prosperity,” Ban said.

But with many issues still be resolved, reaching a deal will not be easy. One of the biggest disputes is over how far the Paris pact should aim to limit global warming. Many poor and vulnerable nations want a more ambitious target than the current 2 degree Celsius goal.

“Any further temperature increase beyond 1.5 degree Celsius (2.7 Fahrenheit) will spell, will spell the total demise of Tuvalu and other low-lying and island nations. We must have the greatest possible political will to set the right path here in Paris that will have and leave no one behind,” Prime Minister of Tuvalu Enele Sopoaga said.

Another sticking point centers on demands by developing nations for hundreds of billions of dollars to pay for a shift to renewable energy and cope with the impacts of climate change.

“The G77 and China represents about 85 percent of the world’s population and there can be no meaningful agreement if the group’s concerns are not taken into account,” Nozipho Mxakato-Diseko, the head of G77 and China Bloc said.


Energy strategist Paul Bledsoe discusses climate deal

Bledsoe 2

CCTV America interviewed Paul Bledsoe, president of Bledsoe & Associates about the final push for the climate deal and China’s reaction to the deal. Bledsoe is also the spokesperson for the American Energy Innovation Council, a group of seven CEOs including Bill Gates and Jeffrey Immelt.