COP21 Parties Still Lack Balance on Obligations for Future Climate Deal

Negotiators at the COP21 have not yet managed to find a balance on the legal obligations of developing countries to cut emissions and the developed states’ need to support them, Alfred Wills, a representative of the South African delegation to the conference, told Sputnik on Friday.

PARIS (Sputnik), Anastasia Levchenko — A short version of the draft Paris climate summit’s final deal was released on Wednesday. It contains 29 pages, but lacks 14 more that need to be finalized.

"There has been more clarification and understanding on differentiation over the night, but it is still an issue. The shape of the deal now is that the Paris agreement puts legal obligations on the developing countries to contribute to the global effort [in cutting emissions]. Balance needs to be achieved here," Wills said on the sidelines of the 21st UN Climate Change Conference in Paris.

The South Africa’s chief negotiator added that 195 countries still have different views on whether there should be a legal obligation on the developed countries to provide financial support to the developing states.

Paris is hosting the 21st UN Climate Change Conference, which was scheduled to end today, but the summit's ending date has been postponed to Saturday for the representatives of the Kyoto Protocol parties to reach the legally binding agreement on climate change.