Fresh UN climate talks seek to flash out Paris deal

PanARMENIAN.Net - Five months after ushering in a landmark climate deal, diplomats kicked off a new round of talks Monday, May 16 tasked with converting a political blueprint into a workable plan, AFP reports.

"The whole world is united in its commitment to the global goals embodied in the Paris Agreement," the UN's outgoing climate chief, Christiana Figueres, told the 196-nation UN climate body at the start of a 10-day session in Bonn.

"Now we must design the details of the path to the safe, prosperous and climate-neutral future to which we all aspire." That remains a daunting task, negotiators and experts agreed.

The targets set are hugely ambitious, and the rift between rich and developing countries -- sufficiently reconciled to seal the deal in December -- remains just beneath the surface.

The new goal of capping global warming at "well below" two degree Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) means nothing less than weaning the world economy off fossil fuels within a few short decades.

It will also require mobilizing trillions of dollars to help poor countries green their economies and brace for climate impacts.

One of the UN body's most urgent tasks is orchestrating the ramping up of national plans to cut carbon pollution.

The next "political moment" when countries could deepen their commitments is a so-called stocktaking in 2018.

At the same time, the developing world is concerned that too much of the 100 billion dollars (88 billion euros) per year promised by wealthy nations starting in 2020 will be spent on curbing greenhouse gases and not enough to boosting climate resilience.

Fast-track ratification of the Paris Agreement -- likely for early next year -- would help push the UN forum to flesh out the rules and procedures needed to move forward, experts say.