Still no deal as UN climate talks go into extra time

(UPDATED) DOHA, Qatar – UN climate talks in Doha have yet to produce a deal the day after their scheduled close, with negotiators locked in a stand-off about financing, a delegate told AFP on Saturday, December 8.

“We do not expect a deal for at least several more hours,” said the official closely involved in the talks as a new day dawned on the summit that saw haggling continue throughout the night.

Negotiators in Doha must extend the greenhouse gas-curbing Kyoto Protocol as an interim measure to rein in climate change and smooth the way to a new, global pact due to take effect in 2020.

But the issue of funding to help poor countries deal with the fallout from global warming and convert to planet-friendlier energy sources has hamstrung the haggling by envoys from nearly 200 countries gathered in the Qatari capital.

Developed countries are being pressed to show how they intend to keep a promise to raise climate funding for poorer nations to $100 billion (76 billion euros) per year by 2020 — up from a total of $30 billion in 2010-2012.

Developing countries say they need at least another $60 billion between now and 2015 — starting with $20 billion from next year — to deal with a climate change-induced rise in droughts, floods, rising sea levels and storms.

But the United States and European Union have refused to put concrete figures on the table for 2013-2020, citing the tough financial times.

There was also deadlock on a separate demand by least developed countries and those most at risk of sea level rise that provision be made for the losses they suffer because of climate change — a phenomenon they blame on the West’s polluting ways since the industrial era. – Agence France-Presse