Not only emission reduction in new climate agreement: French FM

French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said on Monday that a new global climate agreement that was scheduled to be reached in Paris in December this year would be constituted of several elements and not only about emission reduction.

At an opening session of the annual Petersberg Climate Dialogue organized by German government in Berlin, Fabius said the new deal which was set to come into force in 2020 would be "global, differentiated and legally binding," and comprise several elements. Among them, "adaptation should be put into an equal footing with mitigation."

He said the disturbance of climate change hampered development of many countries, especially African countries and small island states. Thus adaptation to climate change should be regarded as a part of the agreement.

Fabius is the President of the United Nations Climate Conference in Paris. According to him, people should be more hopeful today about the outcome of negotiations than they were in 2009 when the climate conference in Copenhagen failed to reach a strong deal.

"The situation is more severe today than it was in 2009, therefore we really have to act," he said, adding that more and more scientific research had made global warming and its human origin not questioned any more, and technology solutions had been increasingly available and affordable.

Besides, political will to address the climate change was seen around the world as climate policies were increasingly adopted and China and the United States signed a ground breaking climate agreement last year.

Fabius added that there were still differences and divergences around the climate change issue which was "very complex." The success of the Paris conference relied on efforts of all parties, he said. Endit