The delegates of 195 countries responsible for negotiating a climate agreement in Paris now have, since Thursday morning, a new draft text that is a few pages shorter but still contains some 250 options.
The text, which is now 50 pages long instead of 55, was posted on Thursday morning on the website of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) (link to the text).
On Wednesday, many calls to accelerate negotiations were issued by the negotiators and by Laurent Fabius, COP21 President and French Minister of Foreign Affairs.
To accelerate the pace of negotiations, it is expected that the number of working groups will be reduced, as proposed by the G77 group of countries (133 developing countries plus China). Some 12 meetings have thus been scheduled for Thursday, instead of 25 on the previous day.
A new text is expected on Thursday evening or Friday morning. By Saturday lunchtime, negotiators have to present a draft agreement that is as legible as possible, with a maximum of settled options, before Ministers take over on Monday.
The COP is due to end on 11 December, as the international community has set itself the objective to achieve a universal agreement against climate change by then.
Source: http://www.cop21.gouv.fr/en/un-nouveau-projet-daccord/
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