Nearly 200 countries in the U.N. climate talks have agreed upon universal, transparent rules on how countries can cut greenhouse gas emissions and curb global warming, setting the essentials of the 2015 Paris climate change into actions.
However, to the frustration of environmentalists and a bunch of nations that were advocating more ambitious climate objectives, negotiators on Saturday delayed decisions on two other climate issues before next year in an attempt to get a deal on these.
"During this package, you've made a million small steps forward together," said Michal Kurtyka, a senior Polish official chairing the talks.
He said while each individual country would probably find some areas of the agreement it did not like, efforts were made to balance the interests of all parties.
"We will all have to give so as to gain," he said. "We will all have to be brave to explore the future and make still another measure for the sake of humanity."
The discussions in Poland took place against a backdrop of growing concern among scientists that global warming on Earth is moving faster than governments are reacting to it. Last month, a study found that global warming will worsen disasters like the deadly California wildfires and the strong hurricanes that have struck the United States this past year.
And a recent report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, or IPCC, concluded that while it is possible to cap global warming at 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) at the end of the century compared to pre-industrial times, this would take a dramatic overhaul of the international market, such as a shift away from fossil fuels.
That prompted uproar from vulnerable states like small island countries and environmental groups.
The final text in the U.N. talks omits a former reference to certain reductions in greenhouse gas emissions by 2030, and only welcomes the"timely conclusion" of the IPCC report, not its decisions.
1 big sticking point was how to make a functioning market in carbon credits. Economists believe that an global trading system might be an effective way to push greenhouse gas emissions and raise considerable amounts of cash for steps to curb global warming.
However, Brazil wanted to keep the piles of carbon credits it had accumulated beneath an old system that developed nations say was not credible or transparent.
One of those that pushed back toughest was that the United States, despite President Donald Trump's decision to pull out of the Paris climate accord and his marketing of coal as a source of energy.
As it came to closing possible loopholes which could allow countries to dodge their responsibilities to reduce emissions,"the U.S. pushed harder than almost anyone else to get transparency rules that place all countries under exactly the identical system, and it is largely succeeded."
He noted that breakthrough at the 2015 Paris talks occurred just after the U.S. and China agreed on a common framework for transparency.
"In Katowice, the U.S. negotiators have played a central role in the talks, helping to broker a result that's accurate to the Paris vision of a frequent transparency framework for many countries which also provides flexibility for the ones that want it," said Keohane, calling the agreement"a crucial step forward in realizing the promise of the Paris accord."
Among the important achievements in Katowice was an agreement on how nations should report their greenhouses gas emissions and the attempts they are taking to reduce them. Poor nations also secured assurances on becoming higher predictability about monetary aid to help them cut emissions, adapt to inevitable changes such as sea level rises and cover damages that have already occurred.
"However, the fact countries had to be dragged kicking and screaming into the finish line indicates that some countries have not awakened to the urgent call of the IPCC report" about the dire consequences of global warming.
In the long run, a decision about the mechanisms of an emissions trading system was postponed to next year's meeting. Countries also agreed to consider the dilemma of raising ambitions in a U.N. summit in New York following September.
Canada's Environment Minister Catherine McKenna suggested there was no high wordpress alternatives to these meetings if countries wish to tackle global issues, particularly as multilateral diplomacy is under stress from nationalism.
"Still you are seeing here that we are in a position to make progress. We're able to explore the issues. We're in a position to come to solutions."
