Lima climate change talks suggest progress is being made

Reports from the climate change conference currently taking place in Lima, Peru, suggest that progress towards an international climate change agreement is being made.

The talks In Peru see government ministers discussing the international climate change agreement. The conference kicked off on December 1 and is running through to December 12. The 20th session of the Conference of Parties (COP) aims to hammer out a new universal treaty that will come into force in 2020.

Leader of the Labour Party Ed Miliband has described the negotiations as “our best chance yet” to secure a binding international agreement to limit greenhouse gas emissions.

The talks have included how to finance adaption strategies, big polluters paying for the damage they cause and how rich nations, who historically have contributed the most to climate change, should support developing countries that are generally among the worst hit from the effects.

A negotiating document from the conference, seen by the Guardian, outlines long-term goals for the climate change agreement, including full decarbonisation by 2050 and negative emissions by the end of the century.

Despite the progress made at the conference, CARE, and organisation that fights poverty, states that there are still “serious holes” in the current draft of a new global climate agreement, including how the world will finance climate change mitigation and adaption strategies.

Sven Harmeling, CARE’s climate change advocacy coordinator, said, ”This week in Lima, the spotlight is firmly on ministers from developed countries. As yet, they have failed to provide a road map explaining how they are going to find at least $100 billion per year to support climate action in developing countries.

“So Lima is their change to lay their cards on the table. Developing countries need to leave Peru with a commitment that developed countries will work on a financial road map in 2015, showing how they will find the cash to pay for adaption up to 2020.”

Photo: Martin Nikolaj Bech via Flickr 

Further reading:

UN climate talks get underway in Lima

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Funding gap in climate adaption, says UN report

UK needs to adapt to climate change risks

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