The world is on track to reach a comprehensive global agreement on climate change at the UN summit in Paris at the end of next year, according to the two co-chairs of the current round of negotiations.
Artur Runge-Metzger, who previously negotiated on behalf of the European Union, and Trinidad diplomat Kishan Kumarsingh, have said there is now an opportunity to develop a draft text for negotiation before the Lima climate conference in November.
In a "non-paper" following a two-week round of talks in Bonn last month, they noted that "strong substantive progress" had been made then, and a follow-up session in October was "an opportunity not to be missed" to consolidate this.
“There is now greater clarity on the way forward on many of the substantive areas and progress has been made towards identifying a limited number of political choices that need to be made for a successful agreement in 2015,” they said.
The co-chairs believe that March of next year is a realistic deadline for all parties to the negotiations – 195 nations in all – to submit their Intended Nationally Determined Contributions outlining the level of carbon emission cuts planned by governments.
