Lima deal leads way to Paris

The UN members meeting in the Peruvian capital adopted a format for national pledges to cut Earth-warming greenhouse gases and approved a blueprint to guide negotiations for a deal in Paris in December 2015.

The EU “welcomes the outcome... as a step forward on the road to a global climate deal in Paris next year,” according to a statement from the EC, the EU executive arm. “As countries come forward with proposed emissions reduction targets in the coming months, the Lima Call requires all countries to describe their proposed target in a clear, transparent and understandable way,” it said.

“This will enable us to quantify our proposed contributions,” it added. Miguel Arias Canete, EU Commissioner for Climate Action and Energy, said his delegation came to Lima to lay “the ground for negotiations” in French capital.

“And although the EU wanted a more ambitious outcome from Lima, we believe that we are on track to agree a global deal in Paris next year,” Canete was quoted by the commission as saying.

In October the EU set its own goals that include cutting carbon emissions by at least 40 percent by 2030 from 1990 levels. EU leaders also agreed in Brussels to a 27 per cent target for energy from renewable sources, and a 27 per cent gain in energy efficiency by 2030.

The annual round of talks under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change had been scheduled to end on Friday, after 12 days. Instead, it overran by 32 hours, an exceptional delay even in the tradition of the notoriously fractious UNFCCC meetings.