Negotiating text for Paris climate pact ready: UN climate change body

The negotiating text for a new agreement on climate change, to be concluded at the Paris climate conference later this year, was reached after week-long negotiations, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) announced here Friday.

The first round of UN climate talks was held here from February 8 to 13, with delegations from over 190 parties working to agree a climate blueprint.

Having initially aimed at streamlining the Lima document of nearly 40 pages, negotiators have now agreed a hefty 86-page text, which will be the basis for negotiations over the next few months until the Paris meeting.

Christiana Figueres, executive secretary of the UNFCCC, told reporters that no matter how many pages that the text has, the goal to move forward from the "informal draft that came out of Lima (climate conference)" to the "formal negotiating text" was achieved.

Figueres said that a formal negotiating text was now in place which contains the views and concerns of all parties. The Lima draft has been transformed into the negotiating text and enjoys the full ownership of all parties, she added.

The negotiating text covers content ranging from mitigation, adaptation, finance, technology and capacity-building in climate-related matters. Endit