'Good progress' at Bangkok climate talks on draft Paris accord rules: U.N. official

[webfact]

'Good progress' at Bangkok climate talks on draft Paris accord rules: U.N. official

By Chayut Setboonsarng

 

FILE PHOTO: The Bhumibol bridge is seen through air pollution in Bangkok, Thailand February 15, 2018. REUTERS/Athit Perawongmetha/File Photo

 

BANGKOK (Reuters) - A United Nations climate change meeting in Bangkok made good progress on drafting a 'rule book' for the implementation of the 2015 Paris accord before a summit in Poland this December, a top U.N. official said on Sunday, the last day of the talks.

 

The Paris agreement, which was adopted by almost 200 nations and is due to come into force in 2020, set a sweeping goal of ending the fossil fuel era this century.

 

"We made good progress, but we cannot sit back, we need to continue to speed up and deepen the conversation," Patricia Espinosa, who leads the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) which steers the talks, told a news conference in the Thai capital.

 

The negotiated text lays down the groundwork for a summit in Katowice from Dec. 2-14 at which governments will meet to agree rules on implementing the accord.

 

The UNFCCC earlier this week agreed to add an extra day to the December talks to allow more work to be done.  

 

"We need a streamlined draft that will assist us in Poland," Philip S. Weech, a delegate from the Group of 77 and China, told fellow negotiators earlier in the day.

 

Espinosa would discuss some fundamental issues with G7 environment ministers next week, she said.

 

Negotiations, however still needed to "achieve full clarity in climate finance," Espinosa said, referring to a $100 billion fund to help developing countries tackle climate change, describing funding as a "politically sensitive" issue.

 

Critics say that developed countries remained uncommitted over finance.  

 

"The U.S. is a major culprit in taking finance off the table,” Lidy Nacpil, coordinator at non-governmental organization the Asian Peoples Movement on Debt and Development, told reporters.

 

U.S. President Donald Trump, who in the past has described climate change as a hoax, pulled the United States out of the Paris Agreement in 2017, saying it favored other countries and was disadvantageous to the United States.

 

(Reporting by Chayut Setboonsarng; Editing by Amy Sawitta Lefevre and Raissa Kasolowsky)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2018-09-10

[RotMahKid]

So finally we will get some more fresh air in Northern Thailand during winter. What a relief there will be no more forest- and other fires here. Oh No, this is Thailand 4.0 :    They promise everything but do nothing, what a shame.

[Antonymous]

Evidently good progress indeed. Just three months to wait for the next junket when the caravan will move on to Katowice AND they've allowed for an extra day there.

[ChrisY1]

All pi## and wind.....!

[RickTik]

Rather than waste time and resources on the "Climate Change" scam, we should focus our efforts on addressing the issue of plastic waste recycling and re-using that plastic waste in ways that benefit all of us. Besides protecting the global environment, that plastic waste use can save governments a lot of tax dollars.

[Srikcir]

5 hours ago, webfact said:

"The U.S. is a major culprit in taking finance off the table,”

Trump needs that money to feed more tax cuts for the top 1-10% wealthy in the US - including himself.

Meanwhile, he's rejecting a 2% pay raise for federal civil service because of the government's deficit, ie., the additional trillion dollar deficit he and the Republican Congress created in 2017 with tax cuts.

[IAMHERE]

"The U.S. is a major culprit in taking finance off the table,”

New-Speak for "Donald Trump refuses to tax Americans to give money to foreign countries for their  support of Climate Change." Well they will certainly 'talk' but they'll do nothing till they get their checks from Uncle Sam. 

[Esso49]

I hope these climate change talking shops do not just end up as more hot air ?

[Justgrazing]

Yet only yesterday in a thread in which the P M urged Thai's to reduce waste it was stated over 300 incinerators were to be built across 77 provinces .. How's that tie'ing in with trying to clean up the air .. When you can bet a lot of what gets incinerated will be plastics ..