Tensions build before UN climate meeting
PARIS – France’s leadership is bristling at U.S. resistance to making a global climate accord under negotiation in Paris next month legally binding.
French President François Hollande, whose country is hosting UN climate talks Nov. 30-Dec. 11, told reporters in Malta on Thursday that “if the deal is not legally binding, there is no accord, because that would mean it’s not possible to verify or control commitments that are made.”
He was responding to comments by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry to the Financial Times saying an eventual agreement would have no legally binding targets.
The deal being negotiated in Paris would be the first asking all countries to reduce emissions.
Some 150 countries have already submitted targets for cuts of greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to global warming.
So far those targets are voluntary, but European negotiators want to make cuts obligatory.
Associated Press
