France’s Fabius urges stragglers to publish emissions data

PARIS, France – French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius, who will chair December’s UN-led climate talks in Paris, on Sunday, October 4, urged countries which have yet to publish greenhouse gas emissions data to do so as soon as possible.

“I invite all countries who have not yet submitted their contribution, notably the large-scale contributors, to do so as soon as possible to contriute to an ambitious and fully successful Paris climate conference,” Fabius said in a statement.

The climate change conference will bring together 195 countries to hammer out a global accord on limiting overall warming to 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) over pre-Industrial Revolution levels.

The United Nations set the goal which scientists say will spare the planet the worst consequences of warming.

To date, 146 nations, accounting for 87% of global emissions, have already submitted their data. They include major polluters such as China, the United States, the 28-member European Union, India and Russia.

But several major oil producers such as Iran, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia (the only G20 member yet to submit its data), Nigeria, Oman, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Venezuela have not.

Fabius said he welcomed the publication of data from 70 nations, notably Brazil, India and South Africa ahead of the Thursday, October 1, informal deadline for emissions pledges.

A review published on the deadline day warned that based on the carbon-cutting pledges as of Thursday, Earth could warm 2.7 degrees Celsius this century.

The data submissions, known as Intended Nationally Determined Contributions or INDCs, will form the backbone of a universal climate rescue pact which the conference is to ink in Paris. – Rappler.com