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Climate change accord to be reached by end of 2015: IPCC

Sunday, 15 February 2015 8:42 PM [ Last Update: Sunday, 15 February 2015 9:00 PM ]

Jean-Pascal Van Ypersal, the Belgian deputy vice president of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) says reaching a limited climate change accord by the end of 2015 is possible.

“I am optimistic,” said Jean-Pascal Van Ypersele, the Belgian deputy vice president of the IPCC, on Sunday, referring to an ultimate climate change conference set to be held in December.

However, the deal is unlikely to adequately fight global warming, Van Ypersele added, stating, “We will have an accord in Paris.”

The official’s comments came two days after a conference by the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) grouping 195 nations closed in Geneva.

On January 13, the UNFCCC came up with an 86-page framework pact for limiting man-made global warming.

The goal of the UNFCC is to limit the global temperature increase to just two degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) by 2020.

Expressing concern over the passing of time, Van Ypersele said “the promises currently on the table are not enough to hit the two degrees Celsius target by 2020. We have to do more … We have to hope that the public will put pressure on governments.”

The UNFCCC is now set to take the legally-binding agreement through to Paris, hoping to do better after the 2009 Copenhagen conference failed in reaching a global accord.

Van Ypersal said “a deal in Paris will at least allow us to continue the work … and we have to make decisions by consensus.”

The progress in reaching the deal depends on national governments' plans for greenhouse gas reductions to be submitted by the end of March.

Since December 1, 2014, delegates from 195 nations have been trying to agree on the foundation for a UN climate deal due to be inked in the French capital in December.

MIS/NT

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