Climate Pact Process Stumbles as Countries Bicker

Climate Pact Process Stumbles as Countries Bicker

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Less than six months after the world agreed to craft a new climate pact by 2015, negotiations stumbled at a crucial preparatory phase as rich and poor countries butted heads. The concluding session of an already troubled 11-day haggle in Bonn ran into delays as countries clashed over who will chair the long negotiations, which aim at a post-2020 deal to roll back greenhouse-gas emissions.

“The window of opportunity is very slowly closing down on us,” conference chairwoman Sandea de Wet warned delegates at what was supposed to be a final meeting but was postponed for several hours. The world is divided between developed and developing nations on apportioning responsibility for curbing global warming. Fast-growing countries like China insist the West, which has been polluting more for longer, should shoulder more of the mitigation burden.