PARIS, Dec 11 (Reuters) - Efforts to craft a global accord to combat climate change stumbled on Friday with China and many other nations refusing to yield ground, forcing host France to extend the U.N. summit by a day to overcome stubborn divisions.
After a night of often fraught discussions on issues including a proposed goal to phase out net greenhouse gas emissions in the second half of the century, French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius conceded the two-week summit would not end on Friday as planned.
He said a final text, meant to chart a way to far wider use of greener energy such as wind and solar power, would now be presented to nearly 200 nations for review only on Saturday, a day later than planned.
"We are nearly there. I'm optimistic," Fabius told reporters in the early afternoon, flanked by U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. "I'll present a text tomorrow at 0900 (0800 GMT) to the parties that I'm sure will be adopted."
Ban called a 27-page draft text already on the table "a good basis" for a deal to help avert more powerful storms, droughts, and desertification and rising sea levels. "I appeal to all parties to take a final decision for humanity."
Delegates said China was resisting calls, led by the United States and the European Union, for all nations to review and update their national plans for curbing greenhouse gas emissions every five years.
President Xi Jinping has already promised that carbon dioxide emissions from China's rapidly developing economy will start falling from around 2030, and does not want to revisit the target. Delegates said China had also reasserted demands that developed nations do far more to curb greenhouse gas emissions, mostly the result of burning coal, gas and oil.
Gao Feng, the Chinese Foreign Ministry's special representative on climate change, played down differences between China and the United States, saying: "There are no special differences ... A deal is getting closer."
"In fact, we have been pushing all kinds of countries, whether it is the EU or others. We wish they can all be more ambitious," he said.
Many other countries were also holding their ground.
Saudi Arabia said it would resist language in the draft calling for a rise in global temperatures to be limited to "well below" 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 Fahrenheit) above pre-industrial levels - a plan that it fears could jeopardize oil production.
The draft text, released on Thursday night, also proposes a target of "greenhouse gas emissions neutrality in the second half of the century."
Several climate scientists said the text should focus more clearly on phasing out carbon dioxide, the main greenhouse gas. And they noted the latest draft did not explicitly mention fossil fuels, the main man-made source of carbon dioxide.
"Major countries have entrenched behind their red lines instead of advancing on compromise," said Matthieu Orphelin, spokesman for the Nicolas Hulot Foundation. Hulot is French President Francois Hollande's envoy on climate change.
Delegates said the talks were also split on who should pay for developing nations to move to low-carbon economies and to mitigate the effects of global warming on the climate, agriculture, human habitation and the earth's flora and fauna.
One source said the "night was very hard."
U.N. climate talks almost always run into overtime at the weekend and one senior European official praised Fabius.
"Everybody's to blame - there are no good guys or bad guys. It's going well. The French are allowing everyone to have their say," he said.
Xi spoke with U.S. President Barack Obama by telephone, Chinese state television reported.
It was unclear what they had discussed, or whether the call signaled new divisions between the world's largest emitters, who struck a landmark climate accord last year.
Xi said the two nations "must strengthen coordination with all parties and work together to ensure the Paris climate summit reaches an accord as scheduled," according to state television.
(Reporting By Emmanuel Jarry, Alister Doyle, Nina Chestney and David Stanway; writing by Alister Doyle and Jonathan Leff; Editing by Kevin Liffey)
Climate change seen from around the world
(01 of05)
Open Image ModalA boy whose house was destroyed by the cyclone watches an approaching storm, some 50 kilometres southwest of the township of Kunyangon. Further storms would complicate relief efforts and leave children increasingly vulnerable to disease. In May 2008 in Myanmar, an estimated 1.5 million people are struggling to survive under increasingly desperate conditions in the wake of Cyclone Nargis, which hit the southwestern coast on 3 May, killed some 100,000 people, and displaced 1 million across five states. Up to 5,000 square kilometres of the densely populated Irrawaddy Delta, which bore the brunt of the storm, remain underwater. (credit:Unicef)
(02 of05)
Open Image ModalIn 2003 in Djibouti, a girl collects water from the bottom of a well in a rural area in Padjourah District. Drought has depleted much of the water supply. (credit:Unicef)
(03 of05)
Open Image ModalOn Sept. 11, 2011, a man carries his daughter across an expanse of flood water in the city of Digri, in Sindh Province. By Sept. 26 in Pakistan, over 5.4 million people, including 2.7 million children, had been affected by monsoon rains and flooding, and this number was expected to rise. In Sindh Province, 824,000 people have been displaced and at least 248 killed. Many government schools have been turned into temporary shelters, and countless water sources have been contaminated. More than 1.8 million people are living in makeshift camps without proper sanitation or access to safe drinking water. Over 70 per cent of standing crops and nearly 14,000 livestock have been destroyed in affected areas, where 80 per cent of the population relies on agriculture for food and income. Affected communities are also threatened by measles, acute watery diarrhoea, hepatitis and other communicable diseases. The crisis comes one year after the country�s 2010 monsoon-related flooding disaster, which covered up to one fifth of the country in flood water and affected more than 18 million people, half of them children. Many families are still recovering from the earlier emergency, which aggravated levels of chronic malnutrition and adversely affected primary school attendance, sanitation access and other child protection issues. In response to this latest crisis, UNICEF is working with Government authorities and United Nations agencies and partners to provide relief. Thus far, UNICEF-supported programmes have immunized over 153,000 children and 14,000 women; provided nutritional screenings and treatments benefiting over 2,000 children; provided daily safe drinking water to 106,700 people; and constructed 400 latrines benefiting 35,000 people. Still, additional nutrition support and safe water and sanitation services are urgently needed. A joint United Nations Rapid Response Plan seeks US$356.7 million to address the needs of affected populations over the next six months. (credit:Unicef)
(04 of05)
Open Image ModalA girl carries her baby sibling through a haze of dust in Sidi Village, in Kanem Region. She is taking him to be screened for malnutrition at a mobile outpatient centre for children, operated by one nurse and four nutrition workers. The programme is new to the area. Several months ago, most children suffering from severe malnutrition had to be transported to health centres in the town of Mundo, 12 kilometres away, or in the city of Mao, some 35 kilometres away. In April 2010 in Chad, droughts have devastated local agriculture, causing chronic food shortages and leaving 2 million people in urgent need of food aid. Due to poor rainfall and low agricultural yields, malnutrition rates have hovered above emergency thresholds for a decade. But the 2009 harvest was especially poor, with the production of staple crops declining by 20 percent to 30 percent. Food stocks have since dwindled, and around 30 percent of cattle in the region have died from lack of vegetation. (credit:Unicef)
(05 of05)
Open Image ModalA boy carries supplies through waist-high floodwater in Pasig City in Manila, the capital. On Sept. 30, 2009, in the Philippines, over half a million people are displaced by flooding caused by Tropical Storm Ketsana, which struck on Sept. 26. The storm dumped over a month's worth of rain on the island of Luzon in only 12 hours. The flooding has affected some 1.8 million people, and the death toll has climbed to 246. (credit:Unicef)
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